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.