Kuwait: Population by nationality group and age group (Kuwait, December 2013)

	Kuwaitis	Non-Kuwaitis								TOTAL
Age group	Kuwaitis	Arabs	Asians	Africans	Europeans	North Americans	South Americans	Australians- Oceanians	TOTAL non-Kuwaitis	TOTAL
0-4	164,483	106,218	46,092	407	1,172	2,276	115	179	156,459	320,942
5-9	158,377	94,468	38,539	302	1,215	2,123	104	184	136,935	295,312
10-14	136,383	72,534	24,329	228	941	1,952	86	161	100,231	236,614
15-19	131,612	65,485	16,623	314	677	1,536	105	170	84,910	216,522
20-24	114,471	83,232	64,972	17,285	617	1,059	118	107	167,390	281,861
25-29	101,842	150,373	220,133	38,003	1,034	1,537	154	92	411,326	513,168
30-34	86,458	146,497	284,300	13,068	1,403	1,655	137	115	447,175	533,633
35-39	75,711	110,058	269,132	4,369	1,411	1,427	120	106	386,623	462,334
40-44	66,465	83,987	216,963	1,412	1,476	1,526	119	120	305,603	372,068
45-49	57,563	69,834	153,523	595	1,321	1,769	115	142	227,299	284,862
50-54	45,381	49,587	87,605	297	1,216	1,872	110	136	140,823	186,204
55-59	35,392	33,191	48,193	240	946	1,335	77	89	84,071	119,463
60-64	24,328	19,993	19,650	129	654	823	42	61	41,352	65,680
>65	44,033	21,173	9,957	54	558	632	30	44	32,448	76,481
TOTAL	1,242,499	1,106,630	1,500,011	76,703	14,641	21,522	1,432	1,706	2,722,645	3,965,144

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.

The other 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’ and CSO’ population figures. PACI’ 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).

Nationalities are grouped according to specific features common to certain population subgroups: language, geographic origin, etc. or according to internationally recognized categories such as: (Arab / non-Arab Asian countries / non-Arab African countries; European countries … etc.).

2. Institution which provides data

The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI)

3. Period of data coverage: 31 December 2013

The database is updated three times 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.

Date of access: March 2014