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.
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Population size and structure
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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. Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region. The statelessness challenge for the Bedoon in Kuwait is largely sectarian.
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.
Structure of the population
Structure of the population (Estimates) (1.01.2020):
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Governorates
Kuwait consists of six governorates: Hawalli, Asimah, Farwaniyah, Jahra, Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer. Most people in Kuwait live in the governorates of Hawalli, Asimah, and Farwaniyah.
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Vital statistics
UN estimates
Life expectancy
Source: UN World Population Prospects
Ethnic groups
By continent
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By nationality
The following is a firm containing estimations from countries' embassies:
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.)
Languages
Arabic (official)
English (lingua franca, spoken widely)
Minority languages include,
Tagalog
Gulf Pidgin Arabic (lingua franca)
Hindi
Persian
Bengali
Urdu
French
Malayalam
Pashto
Turkish
Armenian
Kurdish
Religion
Muslim (official) 74.6%
Christian 18.2%
Other and Unspecified 7.2%