Kuwait: Population by nationality (Kuwaiti/ non-Kuwaiti), place of birth (in Kuwait/ outside Kuwait) and age group (2013)

Nationality	KUWAITIS			NON-KUWAITIS
Age group/ Place of birth	Outside Kuwait	In Kuwait	Total	Outside Kuwait	In Kuwait	Total
0-4	3,964	160,519	164,483	36,764	119,695	156,459
5-9	4,513	153,864	158,377	51,157	85,778	136,935
10-14	5,292	131,091	136,383	45,711	54,520	100,231
15-19	5,137	126,475	131,612	33,815	51,095	84,910
20-24	9,617	104,854	114,471	130,732	36,658	167,390
25-29	3,090	98,752	101,842	367,655	43,671	411,326
30-34	3,544	82,914	86,458	411,670	35,505	447,175
35-39	3,775	71,936	75,711	362,513	24,110	386,623
40-44	3,763	62,702	66,465	288,635	16,968	305,603
45-49	3,464	54,099	57,563	215,262	12,037	227,299
50-54	3,049	42,332	45,381	134,870	5,953	140,823
55-59	3,285	32,107	35,392	81,570	2,501	84,071
60-64	2,894	21,434	24,328	39,897	1,455	41,352
>64	5,165	38,868	44,033	30,742	1,706	32,448
Total	60,552	1,181,947	1,242,499	2,230,993	491,652	2,722,645

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).

 

2. Institution which provides data

 

The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI)

 

3. Period of data coverage: 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.