KUWAIT CITY, March 5: At the end of February 2019, Kuwait’s population stands at 4.7 million, of which 1.4 million are Kuwaitis and 3.3 million expatriates, reports Al-Qabas daily. The number of Kuwaitis rose from 1.1 million at the end of 2009 to 1.4 million at present, or 27 per cent, compared with a 41 per cent increase in the number of non-Kuwaitis.

The number of expatriates is increasing faster than that of citizens. Statistics show the number of Kuwaitis rose by 310,000 in 10 years, compared to 970,000 for expatriates. For every new Kuwaiti child born, there are almost 3 new expatriates.

The increase in the number of expatriates was driven by the launch of giant projects during the last period, especially after the adoption of the 2010 development plan which required bringing additional labor from abroad.

The increase in the number of Kuwaitis required additional domestic labor. For example, the number of employees in 2010 was about 570,000 which rose to 677,000 in 2017, which means that the average annual increase of more than 15,000 new domestic workers.

The sources pointed out that the boom in the recruitment of workers of all kinds has eased relatively in the past few years, after the falling oil prices and the start of the implementation of replacement policy, especially in the government sector