Kuwait: Non-Kuwaiti population by place of birth (in Kuwait/ outside Kuwait) and age group (December 2021)

  Born in Kuwait  Born out of Kuwait Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
0-4 48,697 46,624 95,321 7,438 6,966 14,404 56,135 53,590 109,725
5-9 51,124 48,852 99,976 17,406 16,425 33,831 68,530 65,277 133,807
10-14 41,562 39,701 81,263 20,624 19,269 39,893 62,186 58,970 121,156
15-19 28,284 27,198 55,482 18,761 16,747 35,508 47,045 43,945 90,990
20-24 20,732 21,100 41,832 38,064 18,034 56,098 58,796 39,134 97,930
25-29 19,032 18,382 37,414 224,485 66,829 291,314 243,517 85,211 328,728
30-34 18,085 15,840 33,925 286,875 115,703 402,578 304,960 131,543 436,503
35-39 19,432 15,989 35,421 282,602 119,901 402,503 302,034 135,890 437,924
40-44 15,886 11,586 27,472 264,158 109,642 373,800 280,044 121,228 401,272
45-49 10,781 7,563 18,344 195,066 84,703 279,769 205,847 92,266 298,113
50-54 8,125 5,799 13,924 143,025 55,036 198,061 151,150 60,835 211,985
55-59 4,980 3,141 8,121 85,306 30,733 116,039 90,286 33,874 124,160
60-64 2,283 1,152 3,435 38,285 15458 53,743 40,568 16,610 57,178
65+ 2,468 683 3,151 28,062 16317 44,379 30,530 17,000 47,530
Total 291,471 263,610 555,081 1,650,157 691,763 2,341,920 1,941,628 955,373 2,897,001

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).

  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.