KUWAIT
Population

Population

Kuwait is home to almost 2,875,422 people (2017). The population density is about 161 inhabitants per square kilometre.

The natural population growth rate is 1.46%. (2017)
Birth rate per 1000 inhabitants is 19.2 (2017)
Death rate per 1000 inhabitants is 2.2(2017)
Life expectancy is 78.2 years. (Men 76.8 and women 79.6 years (2017)

The population in 2017 is 31.1% Kuwaitis. For the rest, there are many temporary workers. Of these, 27.9% are from other Arab countries, 37.8% are from Asia, 1.9% are from Africa 0.6% of the population is made up of other population groups

Language

The official language of Kuwait is Arabic. English is also widely spoken.

Some pronunciation rules of Arabic:

-all letters are pronounced
-A ' means that a letter is pronounced very briefly.
-the r is a rolling r
-The y is pronounced as sj
-the sh is pronounced as sj
-the gh is pronounced like a brew r or French r
-The kh is pronounced as a hard g.
-The ou is pronounced like the oe

There is no fixed Dutch spelling for Arabic words. The names are written as they are pronounced. So Aqaba can just as well be spelled as Akaba.

Arabic is written from right to left and consists of 28 consonants. Vowels are not written, which results in different Latin spellings for the same word. Arabic numerals are written from left to right.

Some words and phrases:

English	Arabic
One	wahed, female: wahda
two	etnen
three	talata
Ten	‘ashra
Hundred	meyya
Thousand	‘alf
Sunday	yom el had
Wednesday	yom el ’arba’
Yes	‘aywa
No	la’
Summer	sef
Winter	sheta
Where is the hotel?	fen el fondok?
What time is it?	essa’a kam?
What is your name?	‘esm-ak ‘ak? (man)
What is your name?	‘esm-ek ‘eh? (woman)
Do you have change?	‘andokom fakka?

Religion

In Kuwait, 85% of the population adheres to Islam. There are also 15% Christians, Hindus and Parsis.

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Sources

Elmar Landeninformatie

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated March 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info