Kuwait: Non-Kuwaiti population (10 years and above) by sex, age group, and education level (2021)

    Illiterate Read and Write Primary Interme–diate Secondary Diploma University Post-Graduate  Not Stated Total
10-14 Males 52 3,673 35,823 0 0 0 0 0 22,638 62,186  
Females 49 3,227 34,223 0 0 0 0 0 21,471 58,970  
Total 101 6,900 70,046 0 0 0 0 0 44,109 121,156  
15-19 Males 88 1,708 5,497 30,975 3,705 0 0 0 5,072 47,045  
Females 81 1,380 4,619 29,043 4,282 0 0 0 4,540 43,945  
Total 169 3,088 10,116 60,018 7,987 0 0 0 9,612 90,990  
20-24 Males 524 16,459 4,666 23,248 6,436 290 338 2 6,833 58,796  
Females 243 5,324 3,533 16,551 7,581 328 708 2 4,864 39,134  
Total 767 21,783 8,199 39,799 14,017 618 1,046 4 11,697 97,930  
25-29 Males 5,469 121,733 12,598 68,141 17,228 3,126 4,464 50 10,708 243,517  
Females 2,074 33,967 7,560 18,431 9,632 1,584 4,771 46 7,146 85,211  
Total 7,543 155,700 20,158 86,572 26,860 4,710 9,235 96 17,854 328,728  
30-34 Males 6,413 142,672 10,311 85,805 25,197 8,744 15,546 327 9,945 304,960  
Females 3,685 57,698 5,652 28,833 13,479 4,062 10,280 240 7,614 131,543  
Total 10,098 200,370 15,963 114,638 38,676 12,806 25,826 567 17,559 436,503  
35-39 Males 7,322 127,289 9,661 80,825 28,853 11,707 18,847 890 16,640 302,034  
Females 3,902 57,066 5,671 27,936 13,977 6,406 12,541 539 7,852 135,890  
Total 11,224 184,355 15,332 108,761 42,830 18,113 31,388 1,429 24,492 437,924  
40-44 Males 6,776 100,753 9,977 64,913 24,847 10,600 16,579 878 44,721 280,044  
Females 3,871 51,118 5,598 25,288 11,515 5,082 8,939 482 9,335 121,228  
Total 10,647 151,871 15,575 90,201 36,362 15,682 25,518 1,360 54,056 401,272  
45-49 Males 6,691 70,629 8,962 45,503 20,888 8,791 12,663 647 31,073 205,847  
Females 4,092 36,726 4,575 20,375 8,155 3,885 6,252 314 7,892 92,266  
Total 10,783 107,355 13,537 65,878 29,043 12,676 18,915 961 38,965 298,113  
50-54 Males 7,829 48,084 8,578 32,733 18,755 7,293 9,480 487 17,911 151,150  
Females 4,114 22,013 2,866 12,708 6,810 2,486 3,958 203 5,677 60,835  
Total 11,943 70,097 11,444 45,441 25,565 9,779 13,438 690 23,588 211,985  
55-60 Males 6,961 25,137 7,111 16,822 12,563 4,850 8,252 448 8,142 90,286  
Females 3,610 10,169 1,708 5,872 4,846 1,553 2,817 135 3,164 33,874  
Total 10,571 35,306 8,819 22,694 17,409 6,403 11,069 583 11,306 124,160  
60-64 Males 3,075 9,569 3,895 7,224 6,080 2,360 5,347 413 2,605 40,568  
Females 2,820 3,878 967 2,420 2,609 866 1,690 96 1,264 16,610  
Total 5,895 13,447 4,862 9,644 8,689 3,226 7,037 509 3,869 57,178  
65 + Males 3,035 5,922 3,393 4,166 4,326 1,884 5,074 686 2,044 30,530  
Females 5,632 2,903 1,105 2,021 2,055 785 1,436 113 950 17,000  
Total 8,667 8,825 4,498 6,187 6,381 2,669 6,510 799 2,994 47,530  
Total Males 54,235 673,628 120,472 460,355 168,878 59,645 96,590 4,828 178,332 1,816,963  
Females 34,173 285,469 78,077 189,478 84,941 27,037 53,392 2,170 81,769 836,506  
Total 88,408 959,097 198,549 649,833 253,819 86,682 149,982 6,998 260,101 2,653,469  

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 independent 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).

Classification used for education levels: ISCED. 

  1. Institution which provides data

The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI)

  1. Period of data coverage: 31 December

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

  1. 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: September 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.