Kuwait

Flag of Kuwait

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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.

Location:

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

Geographic coordinates:

29 30 N, 45 45 E

Area:

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

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: 0.84%
permanent crops: 0.17%
other: 98.99% (2005)

Irrigated land:

130 sq km (2003)

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

Geography - note:

strategic location at head of Persian Gulf

Population:

2,418,393
note: includes 1,291,354 non-nationals (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 26.9% (male 331,768/female 319,895)
15-64 years: 70.3% (male 1,085,721/female 613,746)
65 years and over: 2.8% (male 42,460/female 24,803) (2006 est.)

Median age:

total: 25.9 years
male: 28 years
female: 22.3 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:

3.52%
note: this rate reflects a return to pre-Gulf crisis immigration of expatriates (2006 est.)

Birth rate:

21.94 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate:

2.41 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate:

15.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 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: 1.71 male(s)/female
total population: 1.52 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 9.71 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 10.72 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 8.66 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 77.2 years
male: 76.13 years
female: 78.31 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate:

2.91 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

0.12% (2001 est.)

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.)

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:

constitutional hereditary emirate

Capital:

Kuwait

Administrative divisions:

6 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Ahmadi, Al 'Asimah, Al Farwaniyah, Al Jahra', Hawalli, Mubarak Al Kabir

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 are not in the military forces, and adult females (as of 16 May 2005); all voters must have been citizens for 20 years

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 in 2007)
election results: percent of vote - NA; seats - Islamists 21, government supporters 14, liberals 3, independents 12; note - all cabinet ministers are also ex officio members of the National Assembly

Judicial branch:

High Court of Appeal

Economy - overview:

Kuwait is a small, rich, relatively open economy with self-reported 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):

$53.31 billion (2005 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$55.8 billion (2005 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

5.6% (2005 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$22,800 (2005 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 0.5%
industry: 52.1%
services: 47.4% (2005 est.)

Labor force:

1.67 million
note: non-Kuwaitis represent about 80% of the labor force (2005 est.)

Unemployment rate:

2.2% (2004 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

3.5% (2005 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):

6.6% of GDP (2005 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $47.21 billion
expenditures: $20.77 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)

Public debt:

17.6% of GDP (2005 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:

38.19 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - consumption:

35.52 billion kWh (2003)

Oil - production:

2.418 million bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption:

305,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - exports:

1.97 million bbl/day (2003)

Oil - proved reserves:

96.5 billion bbl (2005 est.)

Natural gas - production:

8.3 billion cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:

8.3 billion cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

1.572 trillion cu m (2005)

Current account balance:

$31.51 billion (2005 est.)

Exports:

$44.43 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Exports - commodities:

oil and refined products, fertilizers

Exports - partners:

Japan 20.5%, South Korea 13.6%, US 12.4%, Singapore 11.2%, Taiwan 9.9% (2004)

Imports:

$12.23 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Imports - commodities:

food, construction materials, vehicles and parts, clothing

Imports - partners:

US 12.9%, Germany 12%, Japan 7.9%, UK 5.6%, Saudi Arabia 5.5%, Italy 5%, France 4.5%, China 4.1% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$9.296 billion (2005 est.)

Debt - external:

$14.93 billion (2005 est.)

Currency (code):

Kuwaiti dinar (KD)

Fiscal year:

1 April - 31 March

Telephones - main lines in use:

497,000 (2004)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

2 million (2004)

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:

2,439 (2005)

Internet users:

600,000 (2005)

Airports:

7 (2005)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 4
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2005)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
under 914 m: 2 (2005)

Heliports:

4 (2005)

Pipelines:

gas 169 km; oil 540 km; refined products 57 km (2004)

Roadways:

total: 4,450 km
paved: 3,587 km
unpaved: 863 km (1999)

Merchant marine:

total: 38 ships (1000 GRT or over) 2,294,233 GRT/3,730,776 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 1, container 6, liquefied gas 5, livestock carrier 4, petroleum tanker 20
foreign-owned: 1 (Iran 1)
registered in other countries: 29 (Bahrain 3, Comoros 1, Liberia 1, Libya 1, Panama 2, Qatar 7, Saudi Arabia 6, UAE 8) (2005)

Ports and terminals:

Ash Shu'aybah, Ash Shuwaykh, Az Zawr (Mina' Sa'ud), Mina' 'Abd Allah, Mina' al Ahmadi

Military branches:

Land Forces, Navy, Air Force (includes Air Defense Force), National Guard (2002)

Disputes - international:

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia continue negotiating a joint maritime boundary with Iran; no maritime boundary exists with Iraq in the Persian Gulf