Kuwaitis			Non-Kuwaitis			Total
		Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total
In labour force	Gov. sector	176,022	185,764	361,786	75,033	40,109	115,142	251,055	225,873	476,928
	Non-gov. sector	39,743	36,295	76,038	1,224,841	127,082	1,351,923	1,264,584	163,377	1,427,961
	Domestic sector	0	0	0	309,913	326,150	636,063	309,913	326,150	636,063
	Unemployed	11,919	10,441	22,360	3,552	445	3,997	15,471	10,886	26,357
	Total	227,684	232,500	460,184	1,613,339	493,786	2,107,125	1,841,023	726,286	2,567,309
Out of labour force	Student	130,409	136,525	266,934	86,733	95,861	182,594	217,142	232,386	449,528
	Housewife	0	47,136	47,136	0	131,102	131,102	0	178,238	178,238
	Retired or has income	77,606	53,884	131,490	602	13	615	78,208	53,897	132,105
	Total	208,015	237,545	445,560	87,335	226,976	314,311	295,350	464,521	759,871
Not stated		41,460	46,355	87,815	54,103	56,774	110,877	95,563	103,129	198,692
Total		477,159	516,400	993,559	1,754,777	777,536	2,532,313	2,231,936	1,293,936	3,525,872

Source: PACI                                                                                                     

ANNEXED NOTE                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

1. Characteristics of data and definitions

The source of data used here is the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), an independant government body in charge of:

1- centralising all population and labour force data in order to manage a fully computerised population register

2- issuing mandatory civil identification cards to every resident of the country, regardless of age and nationality.

Another source of demographic and socioeconomic data on Kuwait is the Central Statistical Office (CSO), operating within the Planning Ministry. The CSO has conducted ten population and housing censuses since its inception in 1957.

Since 1995 a marked discrepancy was witnessed between PACI’s and CSO’s population figures. PACI’s database is connected electronically with other administrations and bodies registering demographic events and professional/ residency issues (births and death; departures and arrivals; end of service, residency and ID deliveries, etc.).

PACI’s records of residents’ movements is thus regularly updated, which limits the risk of population overcount. Therefore, it is more likely that residents were undercounted during CSO- Ministry of Planning’s census operations (see: Shah, N. Population of Kuwait. Structure and Dynamics, Kuwait: Kuwait University Academic Publication Council, 2010, chapter 1).

(a) Kuwaiti: the Kuwaiti nationality rests upon a document of Kuwaiti nationality or a certificate proving Kuwaiti nationality issued by the Ministry of Interior of Kuwait.

(b) Non-Kuwaiti: his/ her nationality is determined by the name of the State which issued the passport. The foreign national also entered Kuwait legally and has a stamp of residence.

This category includes the Bidoon, a category of stateless persons living in the Emirate. Kuwait’s Bidoon population originates from three broad categories:

1) those whose ancestors failed to apply for nationality or lacked necessary documentation at the time of Kuwait’s independence in 1961;

2) those recruited to work in Kuwait’s army or police force during the 1960s who permanently settled in Kuwait, along with their families;

3) children of Kuwaiti mothers and stateless or foreign fathers (see Human Rights Watch. Prisoners of the Past. Kuwaiti Bidun and the Burden of Statelessness, June 2011, p. 3).

(The children of Kuwaiti mothers and non-Kuwaiti fathers (with specific nationality) inherit the father’s nationality. They are stateless if the father is stateless).

“Non-governmental sector” is presumably the private sector.

2. Institution which provides data

The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI)

3. Period of data coverage: 31 December

The database is updated twice a year and the website presents only the most recent data.

4. Data availability

The statistics section of PACI’s website (http://www.paci.gov.kw/en/ (English); http://www.paci.gov.kw/ (Arabic)) provides population and socio-economic data broken down by nationality (Kuwaiti/ non-Kuwaiti). Some data are displayed by nationality groups.

Analytical tables and data crosstabulations are available for download in PDF, html, .png and Excel (.csv) formats.

PACI website has been inaccessible from outside Kuwait since 2019.

Last date of access: December 2022.                                                                                                      

GLMM and GRC cannot guarantee that the link to access the source will not change; that the information will not be removed from the website it was obtained from; that no geo-blockages will be imposed; or that the information will not be available for any another reason.

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