📰 Kuwait · page 5

The Kuwait Ports Public Authority manages and operates ports across Kuwait.450 The country's principal commercial seaports are Shuwaikh and Shuaiba, which handled combined cargo of 753,334 TEU in 2006.[362]451 Mina Al-Ahmadi is the largest port in the country.452

There are two airports in Kuwait.453 Kuwait International Airport serves as the principal hub for international air travel.454 State-owned Kuwait Airways is the largest airline in the country.455 A portion of the airport complex is designated as Al Mubarak Air Base, which contains the headquarters of the Kuwait Air Force, as well as the Kuwait Air Force Museum.456 In 2004, the first private airline of Kuwait, Jazeera Airways, was launched.457 In 2005, the second private airline, Wataniya Airways was founded.458

as of 2025 05, Kuwait International Airport is facing serious problems, as 14 international airlines have stopped flying to the airport.459 This is due to issues such as management problems, a weak economy, and tough competition from nearby airports.460 Fewer flights have led to fewer passengers, causing worries about the airport's future and its dwindling importance in the region.[363]461

Education

Main article: Education in Kuwait

The general education system consists of four levels: kindergarten (lasting for 2 years), primary (lasting for 5 years), intermediate (lasting for 4 years) and secondary (lasting for 3 years).[364]462 Schooling at primary and intermediate level is compulsory for all students aged 6 – 14.463 All the levels of state education, including higher education, are free.[365]464 The public education system is undergoing a revamp due to a project in conjunction with the World Bank.[366][367]465 There are two public universities and 14 private universities.466

Finance

The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) is Kuwait's largest sovereign wealth fund specializing in foreign investment.467 The KIA is the world's oldest sovereign wealth fund.468 Since 1953, the Kuwaiti government has directed investments into Europe, the United States and the Asia–Pacific.469 In 2021, the holdings were valued at around $700 billion in assets.470 It is the 3rd largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.[368][369]471

Kuwait previously had a leading position in the financial industry in the GCC.472 The previous Emir had promoted the idea that Kuwait should focus its energies, in terms of economic development, on the financial industry.473 The historical preeminence of Kuwait (among the GCC monarchies) in finance dated back to the founding of the National Bank of Kuwait in 1952.474 The bank was the first local publicly traded corporation in the GCC region.475 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, an alternative stock market, trading in shares of GCC companies, emerged in Kuwait, the Souk Al-Manakh.476 At its peak, its market capitalization was the third highest in the world, behind only the United States and Japan, and ahead of the United Kingdom and France.[370]477

Kuwait's Islamic banking sector expanded following the enactment of Law No. 33 of 2003, which established a dedicated regulatory framework for Islamic banking.478 Boubyan Bank was subsequently established in 2004 as Kuwait's first Islamic bank under the new framework.[371]479

Kuwait is a major source of foreign economic assistance to other states through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, an autonomous state institution created in 1961 on the pattern of international development agencies.480 In 1974, the fund's lending mandate was expanded to include all developing countries in the world.481

In the past five years, there has been a rise in entrepreneurship and small business start-ups in Kuwait.[372][373]482 The informal sector is also on the rise,[374] mainly due to the popularity of Instagram businesses.[375][376][377]483 In 2020, Kuwait ranked fourth in the MENA region in startup funding after the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.[378]484

Other non-oil industries

The biggest non-oil industry is steel manufacturing.[379][380][381][382][383]485 United Steel Industrial Company (KWT Steel) is Kuwait's main steel manufacturing company, which caters to all of Kuwait's domestic market demands (particularly construction).486 Kuwait is self-sufficient in steel.[380][379][381][382]487

In 2016, Kuwait's food self-sufficiency ratio was 49.5% in vegetables, 38.7% in meat, 12.4% in dairy, 24.9% in fruits, and 0.4% in cereals.[384]488 8.5% of Kuwait's entire territory consists of agricultural land, although arable land constitutes 0.6% of Kuwait's entire territory.[385][386]489 Historically, Jahra was a predominantly agricultural area.490 There are currently various farms in Jahra.[387]491

Kuwait was ranked 73rd in the Global Innovation Index in 2025.[388][389]492 According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Kuwait registered 448 patents as of 31 December 2015.[390][391][392][393]493 In the early to mid 2010s, Kuwait produced the largest number of scientific publications and patents per capita in the region and registered the highest growth regionally.[394][395][396][397][398][392]494

Kuwait was the first country in the region to implement 5G technology.495 Kuwait is among the world's leading markets in 5G penetration.[399][400]496

Tourism in Kuwait still remains very limited due to poor infrastructure and the alcohol ban.497 The annual "Hala Febrayer" festival somewhat attracts tourists from neighboring GCC countries, and includes a variety of events including music concerts, parades, and carnivals.[401][402][403]498 The festival is a month-long commemoration of the liberation of Kuwait, and runs from 1 to 28 February.499 Liberation Day itself is celebrated on 26 February.[404]500

In 2020, Kuwait's domestic travel and tourism spending was $6.1 billion.501 The WTTC named Kuwait as one of the world's fastest-growing countries in travel and tourism GDP in 2019, with 11.6% year-on-year growth.[405]502 In 2016, the tourism industry generated nearly $500 million in revenue.[406]503 In 2015, tourism accounted for 1.5 percent of the GDP.[407][408]504 Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City is one of Kuwait's biggest attractions.505

The Amiri Diwan recently inaugurated the new Kuwait National Cultural District (KNCD), which comprises Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre, Al Shaheed Park, and Al Salam Palace.[409][410][411][412]506 With a capital cost of more than US$1 billion, the project is one of the largest cultural investments in the world.[410]507 The Kuwait National Cultural District is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network.[413]508 Al Shaheed Park is the largest green roof project ever undertaken in the region.[414]509

Space and satellite programmes510

See also: Kuwait Space Rocket

Kuwait has an emerging space industry which is largely driven by private sector initiatives.[415]511 Seven years after the launch of the world's first communications satellite, Telstar 1, Kuwait in October 1969 inaugurated the first satellite ground station in the Middle East, "Um Alaish".[416]512 The Um Alaish satellite station complex housed several satellite ground stations including Um Alaish 1 (1969), Um Alaish 2 (1977), and Um Alaish 3 (1981).513 It provided satellite communication services in Kuwait until 1990 when it was destroyed by the Iraqi armed forces during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.[417]514 In 2019, Kuwait's Orbital Space established an amateur satellite ground station to provide free access to signals from satellites in orbit passing over Kuwait.515 The station was named Um Alaish 4 to continue the legacy of "Um Alaish" satellite station.[418]516 Um Alaish 4 is a member of FUNcube distributed ground station network[419] and the Satellite Networked Open Ground Station project (SatNOGS).[420]517

Kuwait's Orbital Space in collaboration with the Space Challenges Program[421] and EnduroSat[422] introduced an international initiative called "Code in Space".518 The initiative allows students from around the world to send and execute their own code in space.[423]519 The code is transmitted from a satellite ground station to a cubesat (nanosatellite) orbiting earth 500 km above sea level.520 The code is then executed by the satellite's onboard computer and tested under real space environment conditions.521 The nanosatellite is called "QMR-KWT" (Arabic: قمر الكويت) which means "Moon of Kuwait", translated from Arabic.[424]522 QMR-KWT launched to space on 30 June 2021[425] on SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and was part of the payload of a satellite carrier called ION SCV Dauntless David by D-Orbit.[426]523 It was deployed into its final orbit (Sun-synchronous orbit) on 16 July 2021.[427]524 QMR-KWT is Kuwait's first satellite.[425][428][424]525 Building on the achievements of QMR-KWT, Orbital Space launched QMR-KWT 2 as Kuwait's 3rd satellite on 28 December 2025 aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia.526 Like its predecessor, QMR-KWT 2 mission emphasizes accessibility, allowing students and young engineers to interact with an operational spacecraft in orbit.[429][430][431]527

The Kuwait Space Rocket (KSR) is a Kuwaiti project to build and launch the first suborbital liquid bi-propellant rocket in Arabia.[432]528 The project is divided into two phases with two separate vehicles: an initial testing phase with KSR-1 as a test vehicle capable of reaching an altitude of 8 km and a more expansive suborbital test phase with the KSR-2 planned to fly to an altitude of 100 km.[433]529

Kuwait's Orbital Space in collaboration with the Kuwait Scientific Center (TSCK) introduced for the first time in Kuwait the opportunity for students to send a science experiment to space.530 The objectives of this initiative was to allow students to learn about (a) how science space missions are done; (b) microgravity (weightlessness) environment; (c) how to do science like a real scientist.531 This opportunity was made possible through Orbital Space agreement with DreamUp PBC and Nanoracks LLC, which are collaborating with NASA under a Space Act Agreement.[434]532 The students' experiment was named "Kuwait's Experiment: E.coli Consuming Carbon Dioxide to Combat Climate Change".[435][436]533 The experiment was launched on SpaceX CRS-21 (SpX-21) spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) on 6 December 2020.534 Astronaut Shannon Walker (member of the ISS Expedition 64) conducted the experiment on behalf of the students.535 In July 2021, Kuwait University announced that it is launching a national satellite project as part of state-led efforts to pioneer the country's sustainable space sector.[437][438]536 KuwaitSat-1 was launched on 3 Jaunray 2023.[439]537 In 2024, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) established the Kuwait National Space Research Center (KNSRC), providing a dedicated institutional platform for space research, policy, and international cooperation.538 KNSRC is located at Kuwait University.[440][441]539

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Kuwait

Kuwait's 2023 population was 4.82 million people, of which 1.53 million were Kuwaitis and 3.29 million expatriates.[18]540

Ethnic groups

Expatriates in Kuwait account for around 60% of Kuwait's total population.541 At the end of December 2018, 57.65% of Kuwait's total population were Arabs (including Arab expats).[442]542 Indians and Egyptians are the largest expat communities respectively.[443][18]543

Religion

Main article: Religion in Kuwait

Kuwait's official state religion is Maliki Sunni Islam.544 The Al Sabah ruling family adhere to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam.545 Most Kuwaiti citizens are Muslim; there is no official national census but it is estimated that 60%–70% are Sunni and 30%–40% are Shia.[444][445]546 Kuwait also has a large community of expatriate Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs.[446]547 As of 2020, there are an estimated 837,585 Christians, comprising 17.93% of the population—the second largest religious group.[442]548 Most Christians in Kuwait are from Kerala in India, namely Malankara Orthodox, Mar Thoma, and Roman Catholic.549 The first Malankara Orthodox parish was St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Pazhayapally Ahmadi, established in 1934.[447]550 Kuwait includes a native Christian community, estimated to be composed of between 259 and 400 Kuwaiti citizens.[448]551 Kuwait is the only GCC country besides Bahrain to have a local Christian population who hold citizenship.552 A small number of Kuwaiti citizens follow the Baháʼí Faith.[446][449]553

Languages

See also: Kuwaiti Arabic, Kuwaiti Persian

Kuwait's official language is Modern Standard Arabic, but its everyday usage is limited to journalism and education.554 Kuwaiti Arabic is the variant of Arabic used in everyday life.[450]555 English is widely understood and often used as a business language.556 Besides English, French is taught as a third language for the students of the humanities at schools, but for two years only.557 Kuwaiti Arabic is a variant of Gulf Arabic, sharing similarities with the dialects of neighboring coastal areas in Eastern Arabia.[451]558 Due to immigration during its pre-oil history as well as trade, Kuwaiti Arabic borrowed a lot of words from Persian, Indian languages, Balochi language, Turkish, English and Italian.[452]559

Due to historical immigration, Kuwaiti Persian is used among Ajam Kuwaitis.[453][454]560 The Iranian sub-dialects of Larestani, Khonji, Bastaki and Gerashi also influenced the vocabulary of Kuwaiti Arabic.[455]561 Most Shia Kuwaiti citizens are of Iranian ancestry.[456][457][458][459][460][461]562

Culture

Main article: Culture of Kuwait

Kuwait is considered to be a pioneer in the region when it comes to the arts and popular culture.[462][463]563 Kuwaiti popular culture, in the form of theatre, radio, music, and television soap opera, flourishes and is even exported to neighboring states.[464][465]564 Within the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, the culture of Kuwait is the closest to the culture of Bahrain corpus; this is evident in the close association between the two states in theatrical productions and soap operas.[466]565

Performing arts

See also: Music of Kuwait, Television in Kuwait, Cinema of Kuwait

Kuwait has the oldest performing arts industry in the Arabian Peninsula.[467]566 Kuwait's television drama industry is the largest and most active Gulf Arab drama industry and annually produces a minimum of fifteen serials.[468][469][470]567 Kuwait is the main production center of the Gulf television drama and comedy scene.[469]568 Most Gulf television drama and comedy productions are filmed in Kuwait.[469][471][472]569 Kuwaiti soap operas are the most-watched soap operas from the Gulf region.[468][473][474]570 Soap operas are most popular during the time of Ramadan, when families gather to break their fast.[475]571 Although usually performed in the Kuwaiti dialect, they have been shown with success as far away as Tunisia corpus.[476]572 Kuwait is frequently dubbed the "Hollywood of the Gulf" due to the popularity of its television soap operas and theatre.[477][478]573