Kuwait: Non-Kuwaiti population by place of birth (in Kuwait/ outside Kuwait) and age group (December 2017)

  Born in Kuwait Born out of Kuwait Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
0-4 60,055 56,895 116,950 15,016 14,138 29,154 75,071 71,033 146,104
5-9 50,029 48,088 98,117 23,192 22,092 45,284 73,221 70,180 143,401
10-14 34,773 33,168 67,941 23,041 21,199 44,240 57,814 54,367 112,181
15-19 24,706 24,184 48,890 19,252 17,061 36,313 43,958 41,245 85,203
20-24 21,492 21,288 42,780 109,639 29,580 139,219 131,131 50,868 181,999
25-29 18,419 16,651 35,070 312,330 109,076 421,406 330,749 125,727 456,476
30-34 20,767 17,841 38,608 330,998 126,450 457,448 351,765 144,291 496,056
35-39 17,652 13,237 30,889 328,165 114,967 443,132 345,817 128,204 474,021
40-44 12,535 8,625 21,160 252,691 94,324 347,015 265,226 102,949 368,175
45-49 9,123 6,430 15,553 195,410 68,120 263,530 204,533 74,550 279,083
50-54 6,210 4,016 10,226 128,818 41,464 170,282 135,028 45,480 180,508
55-59 3,163 1,596 4,759 77,640 24,253 101,893 80,803 25,849 106,652
60-64 1,359 578 1,937 41,567 13,090 54,657 42,926 13,668 56,594
65+ 2,088 399 2,487 27,279 14,244 41,523 29,367 14,643 44,010
Total 282,371 252,996 535,367 1,885,038 710,058 2,595,096 2,167,409 963,054 3,130,463

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.