KUWAIT CITY, Oct 25: According to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB), the number of expatriates in Kuwait decreased by 1.6 percent last year, reports Al-Seyassah daily. The Gulf-American economic consulting firm expects a further 2 percent decline in Kuwait’s population this year. The firm’s director, Justin Alexander, noted that this is the first population decline Kuwait has experienced under normal circumstances “without wars or a pandemic like COVID-19.” He attributed the decline to tighter immigration procedures, particularly as reducing the number of foreign workers has been a popular demand. Alexander explained that Kuwait has been undergoing comprehensive regulatory reforms since His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad assumed power, including the citizenship file. However, the population figures published by the CSB do not include the approximately 50,000 people whose citizenship has been revoked. CSB reported last month that Kuwait’s total population declined by 0.65 percent, from 4,913,271 to 4,881,254. The number of Kuwaiti citizens, however, increased by 1.32 percent at the beginning of this year, reaching 1,566,168

Data showed that the proportion of Kuwaitis in the total population rose from 31.46 percent to 32.09 percent, while the number of non-Kuwaitis decreased by 1.56 percent to 3,315,086, representing approximately 68 percent of the population. These demographic changes reflect a gradual increase in the share of citizens, with implications for national planning in education, health, and social services, as well as the need to monitor labor market conditions related to expatriate workers. On September 9, 2021, a committee was formed to examine mechanisms to address the imbalance in the demographic structure, aiming to achieve a population ratio of 70 percent citizens to 30 percent expatriates.