Kuwait population tops 5m
By B Izzak
KUWAIT: Kuwait's population has surpassed the 5-million mark, recording 5,098,539 people as of June 30, 2025. Kuwaiti citizens dropped one percentage point, making up 30.4 percent of the population, the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) said on Tuesday. Kuwaitis numbered 1,550,547 on June 30 compared to 1.57 million at the end of 2024, PACI said in a population report. Kuwaitis made up 31.4 percent of the total population at the end of last year.
For the first time, the Kuwaiti male population overtook their female counterparts. On June 30, Kuwaiti men numbered 776,656 against 773,891 Kuwaiti women. In previous statistics, Kuwaiti women formed 51 percent of the population against 49 percent of men. Kuwait's total population on June 30 grew by 2.16 percent from the end of last year and as high as 3.5 percent a year ago, despite the drop in the Kuwaiti population.
The non-Kuwaiti population rose to a record 3,547,992 residents, or 69.6 percent of the country's population, growing by a strong 3.8 percent from the end of last year and adding 130,000 new entrants. Asians continue to dominate with 2.073 million or 40.7 percent of the total population, making up 58.4 percent of total expats. Asians rose by 3.65 percent from the end of 2024. Arabs come in third place with 1.37 million residents, around 26 percent of the total population. Africans, Americans, Europeans and others make up the rest. Indians remain the top expat community with over one million residents, followed by Egyptians at 660,000.
Domestic helpers, a majority of them Asian, grew to 823,000 on June 30 from 781,000 at the end of 2024, an increase of 5.4 percent, according to the PACI report. On June 30, total workforce in Kuwait reached 3.1 million, slightly up from 3.065 million at the end of 2024. However, the strength of the Kuwaiti workforce dropped from 505,000 six months ago to 491,000 on June 30.
A majority of the Kuwaiti workforce of 393,000 or 80 percent are government employees. Over 67,000 are in private sector jobs and 30,600 are unemployed, the report said. The expat workforce reached 2.65 million on June 30, up from 2.56 million at the end of 2024. Only 127,000 expats are employed in the government sector while about 1.696 million work in the private sector. The remaining 823,000 are domestic helpers.
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