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State of Kuwait
About
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Country
Name:
State of Kuwait
Head
of State:
Sheikh SABAH al Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah
Area:
17,820㎢
Government
type: constitutional emirate,
cabinet member:
Capital: Kuwait City
National
day: 25 Feburary (1950)
Population:
2.8m. (July 2016)
Population
growth rate:
1.53% (2016 est)
Population
density:
118 p/㎢
Language: Arabic (official), English widely spoken
Religion: Muslim (official) 85% (Sunni 70%, Shia 30%), other
(includes Christian, Hindu, Parsi) 15%
Ethnic groups: Kuwaiti 45%, other Arab 35%, South Asian 9%, Iranian
4%, other 7%
GDP
-
real growth rate:
2.5% (2016)
GDP
per capita (ppp):
US$71,300 (2016)
Currency:
KD=1,000fils foreign exchange
GDP
composition by sector:
agriculture: 0.4%,
industry: 59.6%,
services: 40% (2016
est.)
Military
expenditure/GDP: 3.65%
(2014)
Fiscal
year: 4.1 ~ next year 3.31
Life
expectancy:
total population: 78
years, male: 76.6
years, female: 79.4 years
(2012 est.)
Illiteracy: total population: 3.7%,
male: 3.5%,
female: 4.2% (2015
census) |
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CIA World Factbook |
WIKIPEDIA |
BBC Profile |
Kuwait has been ruled by the AL-SABAH dynasty since the 18th century. The threat of Ottoman invasion in 1899 prompted Amir Mubarak AL-SABAH to seek protection from Britain, ceding foreign and defense responsibility to Britain until 1961, when the country attained its independence. Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led UN coalition began a ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91. The AL-SABAH family returned to power in 1991 and established one of the most independent legislatures in the Arab World. The country witnessed the historic election in 2009 of four women to its National Assembly.
Amid the 2010-11 uprisings and protests across the Arab world, stateless Arabs, known as bidoon, staged small protests in early 2011 demanding citizenship, jobs, and other benefits available to Kuwaiti nationals. Youth activist groups' repeated rallies in 2011 for the dismissal of a prime minister seen as being corrupt, ultimately led to his resignation in late 2011. Demonstrations renewed in late 2012 in response to an Amiri decree amending the electoral law. The opposition, led by a coalition of Sunni Islamists, tribalists, some liberals, and myriad youth groups, largely boycotted legislative elections in 2012 and 2013, which ushered in a legislature more amenable to the government's agenda. Since coming to power in 2006, the Amir has dissolved the National Assembly on seven occasions (the Constitutional Court annulled the Assembly in June 2012 and again in June 2013) and shuffled the cabinet over a dozen times, usually citing political stagnation and gridlock between the legislature and the government. (CIA World Factbook)
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