Dubai: The Kuwaiti Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) has released new data showing a notable decrease in the country’s expatriate population, despite a marginal overall population increase to 4,918,570 as of the end of June 2024.
This represents a net gain of just 5,299 individuals since January 1, with the number of Kuwaiti nationals increasing by 14,144, while the expatriate community shrank by 8,845 to 3,358,645.
Kuwaitis now constitute 32 per cent of the population, a slight increase, reflecting ongoing demographic shifts in the country. Indians, Egyptians, Bangladeshis, and Filipinos form the bulk of the expatriate group, with their combined numbers representing a significant portion of the total non-Kuwaiti residents.
The workforce statistics echo these demographic changes, with 516,397 individuals employed in the public sector and 1,661,611 in the private sector. Kuwaiti nationals overwhelmingly dominate public sector employment, accounting for 78.31 per cent of jobs, whereas the private sector is primarily sustained by expatriates: Indians at 30.4 per cent, Egyptians at 26.6 per cent, and Bangladeshis at 10.6 per cent.
This decline in the expatriate population occurs amid increasing nationalisation efforts across various sectors in Kuwait, aiming to provide more employment opportunities for Kuwaiti citizens.
