Expatriates in Kuwait
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2.96 million (2022) 69% of Kuwait population | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kuwait City and suburbs | |
| Languages | |
| English (lingua franca) • Arabic • Hindi • Malayalam • Urdu • Pashto • Tagalog • Persian • Others | |
| Religion | |
| Islam • Christianity • Hinduism • Others | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates |
There are a large number of expatriates in Kuwait, with most residing in the capital of Kuwait City. Expatriates are primarily attracted by the employment opportunities in Kuwait. Kuwaiti nationals account for 31% of Kuwait's total population.
Arab populations
[edit]GCC populations
[edit]Saudis
[edit]540,773 Saudi Arabian nationals live in Kuwait.[1] Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are neighbours and part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which means that the citizens of each GCC member can live and work in any of the six countries without a visa.
Levant populations
[edit]Syrians
[edit]There are around 161,000 Syrian expats in Kuwait. Syrians were among the first educated work force in Kuwait, the first Syrian expats immigrated to Kuwait in the 1960s.[2]
Lebanese
[edit]106,000 Lebanese Nationals live in Kuwait, mainly Kuwait City.[citation needed]
Palestinians
[edit]There are around 70,000 Palestinian expats in Kuwait.[3]
North Africa populations
[edit]Egyptians
[edit]Egyptians are the second largest expat community in Kuwait, numbering more than 666,000 workers (December 2020).[citation needed]
Non-Arab Middle Eastern Populations
[edit]Iranians
[edit]In 2012, there were 45,000 Iranian expats according to the population census.[4] Iranians are heavily concentrated in the Bneid al-Gar suburb of Kuwait City. Most Iranians are employed in the private sector.[5] In 2011, there were 42,795 Iranians in Kuwait; 699 were employed in the public sector, 24,684 in the private sector and 16,577 were on dependent visas.[5]
There are Iranian schools in Kuwait, all privately funded and located in the suburbs of Kuwait City,[6] for example the Iranian School of Kuwait.
South Caucasian populations
[edit]Armenians
[edit]The Armenian population reached its peak of 12,000.[7] But after the Iraqi invasions, the numbers of the Armenians resident in Kuwait greatly diminished to just 500[7] as they left the country.
Turks
[edit]There are 4,000 Turkish expats in Kuwait.[8] Most Turks work as barbers, engineers, businessmen and doctors.
South Asian populations
[edit]Indians
[edit]The Indian community in Kuwait includes Indian expats (mostly hailing from the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu), as well as Kuwaiti citizens of Indian origin. According to the Indian ministry of external affairs, there are around 1,020,000 Indians as on 31 December 2020,[9] constituting the largest expatriate community in Kuwait.[10]
There are 17 Indian schools in Kuwait affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). There were 164 Indian community Associations earlier registered with the Indian Embassy of Kuwait. Following introduction of a re-registration requirement, 106 of these Indian community Associations have once again registered with the Embassy and the number of registered Associations is growing at a steady pace.
Pakistanis
[edit]The population of Pakistanis in Kuwait is around 100,000 (December 2020).[citation needed] The former Pakistani chargé d'affaires in Kuwait has given a higher estimate of 150,000 in 2009.[11] There are many Pakistani schools in Kuwait.
Sri Lankans
[edit]There are 99,858 Sri Lankans living and working in Kuwait in 2016.[12]
Southeast Asian populations
[edit]Filipinos
[edit]There are roughly 241,000 (as of December 2020) Filipinos in Kuwait.[citation needed] Most are migrant workers,[13] and approximately 60% of Filipinos in Kuwait are employed as domestic workers.
In 2011, Kuwait was the sixth-largest destination of Overseas Filipino Workers, with 65,000 hired or rehired in the nation in 2011, and accordingly Kuwait has been an important source of remittances back to the Philippines, with over $105 million USD being remitted in 2009.[14][15] Nine Filipino banks have correspondent accounts with banks in Kuwait to allow for remittance transfers.[16]
There is a Filipino Worker's Resource Center (FWRC) located in Jabriya, and it provides refuge for Filipino workers in Kuwait who have "[experienced] various forms of maltreatment from their employers such as fatigue, non-payment of salaries,"[17] as well as "lack of food [and] physical, verbal and sexual abuse".[18] Through assistance from the FWRC, the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration, hundreds of Filipinos in Kuwait have been repatriated to the Philippines due to these issues.[18][19]
Kuwait had the largest number of voters registered under the Overseas Absentee Voting Act eligible to vote in the 2013 Philippine general election.[20]
Indonesians
[edit]28,954 Indonesians reside in Kuwait as of 2020.[21]
East Asian populations
[edit]South and North Koreans
[edit]Koreans in Kuwait first arrived in 1975 as employees of South Korean construction companies, although the two countries did not establish formal relations until June 1979.[22][23] By this time, Kuwait had already become the second-most popular Middle Eastern destination for Korean workers behind Saudi Arabia; by that time, 13,813 Korean workers had already come to Kuwait. However, Kuwait would soon lose the second-place position, being surpassed by Libya in 1981 and Iraq in 1982.[24][25] Koreans in Kuwait generally did not receive a welcome from or assimilate to the local society; in common with Indians, Filipinos, and Pakistanis, they were described as being at the bottom of the social structure, "ridiculed and stripped of their rights".[26] Nor did they spend much of their money locally; as meals and housing were provided for them in their work camps, it was estimated that they remitted 80% of their earnings back to South Korea.[27] In spite of these difficulties, between 1975 and 1985, 63,898 South Korean workers came to Kuwait, and as late as 1990, roughly 10,000 were estimated to remain.[24] Kuwait's only school for Korean nationals, the Kuwait Hangul School, was established in 1991.[28] Most South Koreans returned home in the following decade, and as of 2011[update], only 1,000 South Korean nationals resided in the country. There were no known former South Korean nationals with Kuwaiti nationality; six were international students, and the remainder had other kinds of visas.[29]
There was formerly a small contingent of South Korean soldiers in Kuwait, who numbered 170.[22] South Korean civilian employees from the United States Army's Camp Casey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi-do have been deployed to bases in Kuwait, including Camp Arifjan, in support of the US Army.[30] In 2005, a group calling itself Kuwait Mujahideen claimed to have killed a Korean national as part of an attack on a US Army base in Umm Al-Hayman near Al Ahmadi.[31]
North Korean companies have established a greater presence in Kuwait recent years, and the government of South Korea estimated that there are roughly three or four thousand North Korean construction workers in the country as of 2004[update].[22][32] Air Koryo, the national airline of North Korea, began operating weekly flights between Pyongyang and Kuwait City in 2011.[33]
European populations
[edit]Britons
[edit]About 4,000 Britons live in Kuwait.[34](Kuwait was a British Protectorate from 1899 to 1961.)
Danes
[edit]About 200 Danes are living in Kuwait.
"There are some Danes married to Kuwaitis, and Danes working in several high-level positions. There are people in the oil, hospitality, pharmaceutical and bakery sectors. Did you know that the first excavation on Failaka Island in Kuwait was headed by a Dane in the 1950s? Many artifacts were uncovered there, and we traced the origins of the first settlement,"
— Ole E. Moseby, Danish ambassador of Kuwait[35]
North American populations
[edit]Americans
[edit]About 30,000 United States nationals live in Kuwait.[36]
Canadians
[edit]An estimated 7,000 Canadians reside in Kuwait and work in important sectors such engineering, finance, government, academia, health, and the oil industry.
In 2006, Canadian servicemen who fought in the first Gulf War were given the Liberation of Kuwait Medal by Kuwait. Thirty Canadian soldiers who served in the first Gulf War were honored by the Kuwaiti Embassy in Canada in February 2020.
In 2019, there were approximately 450 Kuwaiti students pursuing their studies in Canada, mostly in medicine. In 2015, Algonquin College became the first Canadian college in Kuwait.[37]
Oceanian Populations
[edit]Australians
[edit]The Australian community residing in Kuwait has 800 people working in various sectors, especially in the oil and gas sector. It is a qualified community that includes many professionals from various fields.[38]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "World Migration". International Organization for Migration. Archived from the original on 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
- ^ Kuwait extends residency permits for Syrians archived from the original
- ^ O'Toole, Megan. "Palestine-Kuwait relations: 'Ice has started to melt'". Al Jazeera.
- ^ "Kuwait postpones Iran spy cell trial". 2012.
- ^ a b "Expat population in Kuwait drops by 19 percent in one year". 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
- ^ "Kuwait and Iran". Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 1 August 1989.
- ^ a b "THE ARMENIANS OF KUWAIT: REBUILDING AFTER THE GULF WAR". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007.
- ^ Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı. "Kuveyt". Retrieved 2009-10-28.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Indian Community" (PDF). Ministry of External Affairs. December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
- ^ "Indians in Kuwait | KuwaitStay". December 17, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-12-17.
- ^ Al-Qarari, Hussein (2009-03-29). "Pakistanis celebrate National Day in Kuwait". Kuwait Times. Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ Toumi, Habib (5 October 2016). "7 nationalities make up 90% of foreigners in Kuwait". Gulf News. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "Kuwait grants amnesty to illegal aliens". Archived from the original on February 9, 2012.
- ^ "Overseas Filipino Workers At A Glance" (PDF). Senate of the Philippines. May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
- ^ "Contribution Rose from OFWs to the Philippine Economy". Expat Crossing. May 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
- ^ "Philippine Banks With Remittance Networks Abroad" (PDF). Scalabrini Migration Center. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
- ^ "Seventy Distressed HSWs Repatriated To Philippines". Arab Times. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
- ^ a b "131 Distressed Pinoys Fly Home To Philippines". Arab Times. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
- ^ "DFA: 31 OFWs repatriated from Kuwait, 400 more to come home soon". GMA News. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
- ^ "Kuwait Filipinos Top OAV Globally". Arab Times. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
- ^ "Data Agregat WNI yang Tercatat di Perwakilan RI" (PDF) (in Indonesian). General Elections Commission. 2019. Retrieved 2022-02-24.[dead link]
- ^ a b c Cheongwadae 2007, President Roh Moo-hyn's State Visit to the State of Kuwait
- ^ MacKellar 1982
- ^ a b Seok 1991, pp. 56–58
- ^ Bonacich & Light 1991, pp. 105–106
- ^ Mohammed 2003, p. 21
- ^ Mohammed 2003, p. 20
- ^ NIIED 2007, 쿠웨이트한글학교
- ^ MOFAT 2011, p. 292; Cheongwadae 2007, President Roh Moo-hyn's State Visit to the State of Kuwait also states there may be as many as 4,000 North Korean workers in the country, which if correct, would give Kuwait the second-largest Korean population in the region
- ^ Choi, Jin (10 January 2011), Casey Exchange employee among first Koreans to serve soldiers abroad, United States Army, retrieved 25 February 2012
- ^ Suh, Jung-min (16 January 2005), "Seoul denies Korean soldier was killed in Kuwait", JoongAng Ilbo, retrieved 25 February 2012
- ^ "About 3,000 North Korean Construction Workers in Kuwait: KOTRA", YON – Yonhap News Agency of Korea, 27 November 2004, retrieved 22 May 2009
- ^ O'Carroll, Chad (27 March 2014). "North Korea's Air Koryo resumes Pyongyang–Kuwait service". NKNews.org. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ^ Kuwait travel advice - GOV.UK archived from the original
- ^ "Denmark woos Kuwait to invest in renewable energy, life science tech". kuwaittimes. June 23, 2021.
- ^ Etheridge, Jamie. "Americans in Kuwait: US Ambassador Discusses how Embassy Serves US Citizens in Kuwait". U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020.
- ^ Canada, Global Affairs (2020-07-06). "Canada-Kuwait relations". GAC. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
- ^ "بالفيديو السفيرة ميليسا كيلي 13 مليار دولار أسترالي إجمالي حجم الاستثمارات الكويتية في أستراليا". alanba.com.kw.
Works cited
[edit]- Bonacich, Edna; Light, Ivan (1991), Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles, 1965–1982, United States: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-07656-7
- MacKellar, F. Landis (1982), Native and foreign population and labor in Kuwait, Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates
- Mohammed, Nadeya Sayed Ali (2003), Population and Development of the Arab Gulf States: The Case of Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 0-7546-3220-2
- Seok, Hyunho (1991), "Korean migrant workers to the Middle East", in Gunatilleke, Godfrey (ed.), Migration to the Arab World: Experience of Returning Migrants, United Nations University Press, pp. 56–103, ISBN 978-92-808-0745-5
- 재외동포 본문(지역별 상세), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 15 July 2011, retrieved 25 February 2012
- Overseas Korean Educational Institutions, South Korea: National Institute for International Education Development, 1 March 2002, archived from the original on 30 September 2007, retrieved 22 May 2009
- "President Roh Moo-hyun: Summit Diplomacy", Cheongwadae: Office of the President, South Korea: Presidential Archives, 2007, archived from the original on 30 May 2009, retrieved 22 May 2009
- Kuwait civil id
