Introduction

 

Background:  Britain oversaw foreign relations and defense for the ruling Kuwaiti AL-SABAH dynasty from 1899 until independence in 1961. Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led, UN coalition began a ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91.

 

Geography

 

Location: Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia

 

Geographic coordinates: 29 30 N, 45 45 E

 

Map references: Middle East

 

Area: total: 17,820 sq km; land: 17,820 sq km; water: 0 sq km

 

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than New Jersey

 

Land boundaries: total: 462 km; border countries: Iraq 240 km, Saudi Arabia 222 km

 

Coastline: 499 km

 

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm

 

Climate: dry desert; intensely hot summers; short, cool winters

 

Terrain: flat to slightly undulating desert plain

 

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m; highest point: unnamed location 306 m

 

Natural resources: petroleum, fish, shrimp, natural gas

 

Land use: arable land: 0.73%; permanent crops: 0.11%; other: 99.16% (2001)

 

Irrigated land: 60 sq km (1998 est.)

 

Natural hazards: sudden cloudbursts are common from October to April and bring heavy rain, which can damage roads and houses; sandstorms and dust storms occur throughout the year, but are most common between March and August

 

Environment - current issues: limited natural fresh water resources; some of world's largest and most sophisticated desalination facilities provide much of the water; air and water pollution; desertification

 

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping

 

Geography - note: strategic location at head of Persian Gulf

 

People

 

Population: 2,335,648; note: includes 1,291,354 non-nationals (July 2005 est.)

 

Age structure: 0-14 years: 27.2% (male 323,382/female 311,700); 15-64 years: 70.1% (male 1,045,589/female 591,243); 65 years and over: 2.7% (male 40,439/female 23,295) (2005 est.)

 

Median age: total: 25.86 years; male: 28.05 years; female: 22.12 years (2005 est.)

 

Population growth rate: 3.44%; note: this rate reflects a return to pre-Gulf crisis immigration of expatriates (2005 est.)

 

Birth rate: 21.88 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Death rate: 2.42 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Net migration rate: 14.96 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female; 15-64 years: 1.77 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 1.74 male(s)/female; total population: 1.52 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

 

Infant mortality rate: total: 9.95 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 10.96 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 8.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

 

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 77.03 years; male: 76.01 years; female: 78.1 years (2005 est.)

 

Total fertility rate: 2.97 children born/woman (2005 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.12% (2001 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA

 

HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA

 

Nationality: noun: Kuwaiti(s); adjective: Kuwaiti

 

Ethnic groups: Kuwaiti 45%, other Arab 35%, South Asian 9%, Iranian 4%, other 7%

 

Religions: Muslim 85% (Sunni 70%, Shi'a 30%), Christian, Hindu, Parsi, and other 15%

 

Languages: Arabic (official), English widely spoken

 

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 83.5%; male: 85.1%; female: 81.7% (2003 est.)

 

Government

 

Country name: conventional long form: State of Kuwait; conventional short form: Kuwait; local long form: Dawlat al Kuwayt; local short form: Al Kuwayt

 

Government type: nominal constitutional monarchy

 

Capital: Kuwait

 

Administrative divisions: 5 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Ahmadi, Al Farwaniyah, Al 'Asimah, Al Jahra', Hawalli

 

Independence 19 June 1961 (from UK):

 

National holiday: National Day, 25 February (1950)

 

Constitution: approved and promulgated 11 November 1962

 

Legal system: civil law system with Islamic law significant in personal matters; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

 

Suffrage: adult males who have been naturalized for 30 years or more or have resided in Kuwait since before 1920 and their male descendants at age 21; note: only 10% of all citizens are eligible to vote; in 1996, naturalized citizens who do not meet the pre-1920 qualification but have been naturalized for 30 years were eligible to vote for the first time

 

Executive branch: chief of state: Amir JABIR al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah (since 31 December 1977); Crown Prince SAAD al-Abdullah al-Salim Al Sabah; head of government: Prime Minister SABAH al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah (since 13 July 2003); First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior NAWWAF al-Ahmad Al Sabah (since 2003); Deputy Prime Ministers JABIR MUBARAK al-Hamad Al Sabah (since 2001) and Muhammad Dayfallah al-SHARAR (since 2003); cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister and approved by the monarch; elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the monarch

 

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-Umma (50 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms); elections: last held 6 July 2003 (next to be held NA 2007); election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats - Islamists 21, government supporters 14, liberals 3, and independents 12; note - all cabinet ministers are also ex officio members of the National Assembly

 

Judicial branch: High Court of Appeal

 

Economy

 

Economy - overview: Kuwait is a small, rich, relatively open economy with proved crude oil reserves of about 96 billion barrels - 10% of world reserves. Petroleum accounts for nearly half of GDP, 95% of export revenues, and 80% of government income. Kuwait's climate limits agricultural development. Consequently, with the exception of fish, it depends almost wholly on food imports. About 75% of potable water must be distilled or imported. Kuwait continues its discussions with foreign oil companies to develop fields in the northern part of the country.

 

GDP: purchasing power parity - $48 billion (2004 est.)

 

GDP - real growth rate: 6.8% (2004 est.)

 

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $21,300 (2004 est.)

 

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 0.4%; industry: 60.5%; services: 39.1% (2004 est.)

 

Labor force: 1.42 million; note: non-Kuwaitis represent about 80% of the labor force (2004 est.)

 

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture NA, industries NA, services NA

 

Unemployment rate: 2.2% (2004 est.)

 

Population below poverty line: NA

 

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA; highest 10%: NA

 

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.3% (2004 est.)

 

Investment (gross fixed): 8% of GDP (2004 est.)

 

Budget: revenues: $35.82 billion; expenditures: $19.53 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

 

Public debt: 29.6% of GDP (2004 est.)

 

Agriculture - products: practically no crops; fish

 

Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, cement, shipbuilding and repair, desalination, food processing, construction materials

 

Industrial production growth rate: -5% (2002 est.)

 

Electricity - production: 32.43 billion kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - consumption: 30.16 billion kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2002)

 

Oil - production: 2.319 million bbl/day (2004 est.)

 

Oil - consumption: 293,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)

 

Oil - exports: 1.97 million bbl/day (2003)

 

Oil - imports: NA

 

Oil - proved reserves: 96.5 billion bbl (2004 est.)

 

Natural gas - production: 8.7 billion cu m (2002 est.)

 

Natural gas - consumption: 8.7 billion cu m (2002 est.)

 

Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2002 est.)

 

Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2002 est.)

 

Natural gas - proved reserves: 1.548 trillion cu m (2004)

 

Current account balance: $12.04 billion (2004 est.)

 

Exports: $27.42 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

 

Exports - commodities: oil and refined products, fertilizers

 

Exports - partners: Japan 22.6%, US 13.4%, South Korea 13.4%, Singapore 12.4%, Taiwan 8.4%, Netherlands 4.1% (2004)

 

Imports: $11.12 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

 

Imports - commodities: food, construction materials, vehicles and parts, clothing

 

Imports - partners: US 13.1%, Germany 12.7%, Japan 8.2%, China 5.9%, Italy 5.4%, UK 5.4%, Saudi Arabia 4.7%, France 4.6% (2004)

 

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $7.333 billion (2004 est.)

 

Debt - external: $15.02 billion (2004 est.)

 

Economic aid - recipient: NA (2001)

 

Currency (code): Kuwaiti dinar (KD)

 

Exchange rates: Kuwaiti dinars per US dollar - 0.2947 (2004), 0.298 (2003), 0.3039 (2002), 0.3067 (2001), 0.3068 (2000)

 

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

 

Communications

 

Telephones - main lines in use: 486,900 (2003)

 

Telephones - mobile cellular: 1.42 million (2003)

 

Telephone system: general assessment: the quality of service is excellent; domestic: new telephone exchanges provide a large capacity for new subscribers; trunk traffic is carried by microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, and open-wire and fiber-optic cable; a cellular telephone system operates throughout Kuwait, and the country is well supplied with pay telephones; international: country code - 965; coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia; linked to Bahrain, Qatar, UAE via the Fiber-Optic Gulf (FOG) cable; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean, 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean), and 2 Arabsat

 

Radio broadcast stations: AM 6, FM 11, shortwave 1 (1998)

 

Television broadcast stations: 13 (plus several satellite channels) (1997)

 

Internet country code: .kw

 

Internet hosts: 3,437 (2001)