Demographics of Kuwait

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Demographics of Kuwait
Population pyramid of Kuwait in 2020
Population	3,068,155 (2022 est.)
Growth rate	1.17% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	17.78 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate	2.25 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy	79.13 years
• male	77.67 years
• female	80.65 years
Fertility rate	2.24 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Infant mortality rate	7.43 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	-3.87 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	19.49%
15–64 years	76.71%
65 and over	3.80%
Sex ratio
Total	1.37 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.09 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.66 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Kuwaiti
Language
Official	Arabic

This is a demography of the population of Kuwait (Arabic: سكان الكويت).

Expatriates account for around 60% of Kuwait's total population, with Kuwaitis constituting 38%-42% of the total population. The government and some Kuwaiti citizens consider the proportion of expatriates (which has been relatively stable since the mid-1970s) to be a problem, and in 2016 the number of deportations increased. Most were deported for outstaying their residency permits but others also for traffic offences.^[1]

Source:^[3]

The biggest population difficulty in Kuwait involves the Bedoon, stateless people. According to Human Rights Watch in 1995, Kuwait has produced 300,000 stateless Bedoon.^[4] Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region.^[5][6][7] The statelessness challenge for the Bedoon in Kuwait is largely sectarian.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

According to recent statistics provided by the Central Statistics Bureau, as of January 2024, Kuwait's population reached 4.91 million, an increase of 119,700 from the previous year's 4.79 million. The number of Kuwaiti citizens rose by 28,700 to reach a total of 1.545 million. Specifically, the number of male citizens increased to 758,700, and female citizens reached 787,000. Concurrently, the expatriate population also increased by 90,990, totaling 3.36 million. Amongst the expatriates, the male population reached 2.26 million and the female population 1.1 million.^[13]

Structure of the population (Estimates) (1.01.2020):^[14]

Source:^[3]

Kuwait consists of six governorates: Hawalli, Asimah, Farwaniyah, Jahra, Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer.^[15] Most people in Kuwait live in the governorates of Hawalli, Asimah, and Farwaniyah.^[15]

Source: ^[16]

UN estimates

^[17]

^[18][19]

This graph was using the legacy Graph extension, which is no longer supported. It needs to be converted to the new Chart extension.

This graph was using the legacy Graph extension, which is no longer supported. It needs to be converted to the new Chart extension.

Source: UN World Population Prospects^[20]

Source:^[21]

The following is a firm containing estimations from countries' embassies:^[22]

Nationality	Population	% of Total Population	Year of Data
Kuwait	1,294,513	30.90%	2015
India	1,020,000[23]	24.04%	2020
Egypt	666,000[24]	15.70%	2020
Philippines	~241,000[24]	~5.68%	2020
Bangladesh	181,265	4.30%	2014
Syria	161,000[25]	3.80%	2015
Saudi Arabia	132,533[26]	3.18%	2021
Lebanon	106,000[24]	2.50%	?
Nepal	101,193[27]	2.24%	2019
Pakistan	100,000[24]	2.36%	2020
Sri Lanka	96,000[28]	2.26%	2016
Stateless	93,000	2.20%	2015
Ethiopia	74,000	1.80%	2012
Iran	50,000	1.20%	2015
Jordan	33,000[29]	0.83%	2022
USA	30,000	0.70%	2013
Indonesia	28,954[30]	0.68%	2020
Iraq	16,000 - 18,000	~0.4%	2015
Afghanistan	15,000	0.36%	2015
Yemen	11,000	0.26%	2012
Palestine	10,000	0.24%	2015
Sudan	7,000	0.17%	2015
Canada	7,000[31]	0.17%	2020
Bahrain	6,856[26]	0.16%	2021
Armenia	5,000	0.12%	2015
China	5,000	0.12%	2014
North Korea	4,000	0.10%	2013
Turkey	4,000[32]	0.10%	2009
UK	4,000[33]	0.10%	2022
Oman	3,634[26]	0.09%	2021
Qatar	1,731[26]	0.04%	2021
UAE	1,730[26]	0.04%	2021
Eritrea	1,500	0.04%	2015
South Korea	1,500	0.04%	2015
South Africa	1,000	0.02%	2013
Romania	800	0.02%	2014
Australia	800[34]	0.02%	2024
Germany	500 - 600	~0.01%	2015
Nigeria	500	0.01%	?
Spain	500	0.01%	2015
Kenya	400	<0.01%	2015
Venezuela	400	<0.01%	2015
Vietnam	400	<0.01%	2015
Brazil	300	<0.01%	2015
Hungary	300	<0.01%	2014
Malaysia	300	<0.01%	2015
Poland	300	<0.01%	2015
Ukraine	300	<0.01%	2015
Greece	250	<0.01%	2015
Myanmar	200	<0.01%	2015
Denmark	200[35]	<0.01%	2021
Senegal	170	<0.01%	2015
Mexico	120 - 150	<0.01%	2015
Slovakia	100 - 150	<0.01%	2015
Switzerland	105	<0.01%	2015
Argentina	100	<0.01%	2015
Czech Republic	50	<0.01%	2015
Slovenia	<50	<0.01%	2015
Cambodia	47	<0.01%	2015
Taiwan	30 - 50	<0.01%	2015
Nicaragua	40	<0.01%	2015
Cyprus	37	<0.01%	2015
Mongolia	20	<0.01%	2015
Kyrgyzstan	14	<0.01%	2015
Peru	10	<0.01%	2015
Lesotho	7	<0.01%	2015
Guyana	2	<0.01%	2015

Kuwaiti 41.4%, Arab expat 21.4%, Asian (mostly South Asian) 35.3%, African 1%, other 0.7% (includes European, North American, South American, and Australian) (2018 est.) ^[36]

• Arabic (official)^[37]
• English (lingua franca, spoken widely) ^[36]
• Minority languages include,^[38][39]
  • Tagalog
  • Gulf Pidgin Arabic (lingua franca)
  • Hindi
  • Persian
  • Bengali
  • Urdu
  • French
  • Malayalam
  • Pashto
  • Turkish
  • Armenian
  • Kurdish

• Muslim (official) 74.6%
• Christian 18.2%
• Other and Unspecified 7.2% ^[36]

• Religion in Kuwait
• Expatriates in Kuwait