fbpx
Wikipedia

Kuwait

Coordinates: 29°30′N 47°45′E / 29.500°N 47.750°E / 29.500; 47.750

Kuwait (/kʊˈwt/ (listen);[7][8] Arabic: الكويت al-Kuwayt, Gulf Arabic pronunciation: [ɪl‿ɪkweːt] or [lɪkweːt]), officially the State of Kuwait (Arabic: دولة الكويت Dawlat al-Kuwayt), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south.[9] Kuwait also shares maritime borders with Iran. Kuwait has a coastal length of approximately 500 km (311 mi).[10] Most of the country's population reside in the urban agglomeration of the capital city Kuwait City.[11] As of 2022, Kuwait has a population of 4.45 million people of which 1.45 million are Kuwaiti citizens while the remaining 3.00 million are foreign nationals from over 100 countries. Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region.[12][13][14]

State of Kuwait
دَوْلَةُ الْكُوَيْت (Arabic)
Dawlat al-Kuwayt
Anthem: النشيد الوطني
an-Nashīd al-Waṭani
"National Anthem"
Location of Kuwait (green)
Capital
and largest city
Kuwait City
Official languagesArabic[1]
Ethnic groups
(2018)[2]
Religion
(2013)[2]
Demonym(s)Kuwaiti
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary elective semi-constitutional monarchy[3]
• Emir
Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
Ahmed Al-Sadoun
LegislatureNational Assembly
Establishment
1613
• Independence from the Bani Khalid Emirate
1752
23 January 1899
29 July 1913
• End of treaties with the United Kingdom
19 June 1961
14 May 1963
• Kuwait National Day
25 February 1961
• Kuwait Liberation Day
26 February 1991
Area
• Total
17,818 km2 (6,880 sq mi) (152nd)
• Water (%)
negligible
Population
• 2022 estimate
4,294,621[4] (137th)
• Density
200.2/km2 (518.5/sq mi) (62st)
GDP (PPP)2022 estimate
• Total
$248.113 billion[5] (65th)
• Per capita
$51,528[5] (30th)
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
$183.576 billion[5] (59th)
• Per capita
$38,123[5] (26th)
HDI (2021) 0.831[6]
very high · 50th
CurrencyKuwaiti dinar
Time zoneUTC+3 (AST)
Date formatdd/mm/yyyy (CE)
Driving sideright
Calling code+965
ISO 3166 codeKW
Internet TLD.kw
Website
www.e.gov.kw
  1. Nominal succession within the House of Sabah.
  2. Emirate

Historically, most of present-day Kuwait was part of ancient Mesopotamia.[15][16][17] Pre-oil Kuwait was a strategic trade port between Mesopotamia, Persia and India. Oil reserves were discovered in commercial quantities in 1938. In 1946, crude oil was exported for the first time.[18][19] From 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale modernization, largely based on income from oil production. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability and an economic crisis following the stock market crash. In 1990, after oil production disputes with neighbouring Iraq, Kuwait was invaded, and later annexed into one of Iraq's governorates by Iraq under Saddam Hussein.[20] The Iraqi occupation of Kuwait came to an end on February 26, 1991, after military intervention by a military coalition led by the United States and various other countries.

Kuwait is an emirate. The emir is the head of state and the Al Sabah is the ruling family which dominates the country's political system. Kuwait's official state religion is Islam. Kuwait is a developing country with a high-income economy, backed by the world's sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world.[21] Kuwaiti popular culture, in the form of theatre, radio, music, and television soap opera, is regionally influential and exported to neighboring GCC states.[22] In 2009, Kuwait had the highest Human Development Index in the Arab world.[23][24] Kuwait is a founding member of the GCC and is also a member of the UN, AL, OPEC and the OIC. In July 2022, Kuwait named the emir's son as the country's new prime minister to replace caretaker premier Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid, who faced a combative parliament as head of cabinet in a feud hindering fiscal reform.

Etymology

The country's name is from the Arabic diminutive form of كوت (Kut or Kout), meaning "fortress built near water". Since 1961, the official name of the state is the "State of Kuwait".

History

Antiquity

Following the post-glacial flooding of the Persian Gulf basin, debris from the Tigris–Euphrates river formed a substantial delta, creating most of the land in present-day Kuwait and establishing the present coastlines.[25] One of the earliest evidence of human habitation in Kuwait dates back to 8000 BC where Mesolithic tools were found in Burgan.[26] Historically, most of present-day Kuwait was part of ancient Mesopotamia.[15][16][17]

 
Ancient coins found on Failaka Island.

During the Ubaid period (6500 BC), Kuwait was the central site of interaction between the peoples of Mesopotamia and Neolithic Eastern Arabia,[27][28][29][30][31] including Bahra 1 and site H3 in Subiya.[27][32][33][34] The Neolithic inhabitants of Kuwait were among the world's earliest maritime traders.[35] One of the world's earliest reed-boats was discovered at site H3 dating back to the Ubaid period.[36] Other Neolithic sites in Kuwait are located in Khiran and Sulaibikhat.[27]

Mesopotamians first settled in the Kuwaiti island of Failaka in 2000 B.C.[37][38] Traders from the Sumerian city of Ur inhabited Failaka and ran a mercantile business.[37][38] The island had many Mesopotamian-style buildings typical of those found in Iraq dating from around 2000 B.C.[38][37] In 4000 BC until 2000 BC, Kuwait was home to the Dilmun civilization.[39][40][41][42][26] Dilmun included Al-Shadadiya,[26] Akkaz,[39] Umm an Namil,[39][43] and Failaka.[39][42] At its peak in 2000 BC, Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes.[44]

During the Dilmun era (from ca. 3000 BC), Failaka was known as "Agarum", the land of Enzak, a great god in the Dilmun civilization according to Sumerian cuneiform texts found on the island.[45] As part of Dilmun, Failaka became a hub for the civilization from the end of the 3rd to the middle of the 1st millennium BC.[45][46] After the Dilmun civilization, Failaka was inhabited by the Kassites of Mesopotamia,[47] and was formally under the control of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon.[47] Studies indicate traces of human settlement can be found on Failaka dating back to as early as the end of the 3rd millennium BC, and extending until the 20th century AD.[45] Many of the artifacts found in Falaika are linked to Mesopotamian civilizations and seem to show that Failaka was gradually drawn toward the civilization based in Antioch.[48]

Under Nebuchadnezzar II, the bay of Kuwait was under Babylonian control.[49] Cuneiform documents found in Failaka indicate the presence of Babylonians in the island's population.[50] Babylonian Kings were present in Failaka during the Neo-Babylonian Empire period, Nabonidus had a governor in Failaka and Nebuchadnezzar II had a palace and temple in Falaika.[51][52] Failaka also contained temples dedicated to the worship of Shamash, the Mesopotamian sun god in the Babylonian pantheon.[52]

 
The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent.

Following the Fall of Babylon, the bay of Kuwait came under the control of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550‒330 BC) as the bay was repopulated after seven centuries of abandonment.[53] Failaka was under the control of the Achaemenid Empire as evidenced by the archaeological discovery of Achaemenid strata.[51][54] There are Aramaic inscriptions that testify Achaemenid presence.[54]

In 4th century BC, the ancient Greeks colonized the bay of Kuwait under Alexander the Great. The ancient Greeks named mainland Kuwait Larissa and Failaka was named Ikaros.[55][56][57][58] The bay of Kuwait was named Hieros Kolpos.[59] According to Strabo and Arrian, Alexander the Great named Failaka Ikaros because it resembled the Aegean island of that name in size and shape. Some elements of Greek mythology were mixed with the local cults.[60] "Ikaros" was also the name of a prominent city situated in Failaka.[61] Large Hellenistic forts and Greek temples were uncovered.[62] Archaeological remains of Greek colonization were also discovered in Akkaz, Umm an Namil, and Subiya.[26]

 
The Seleucid Empire at its greatest extent.

At the time of Alexander the Great, the mouth of the Euphrates River was located in northern Kuwait.[63][64] The Euphrates river flowed directly into the Persian Gulf via Khor Subiya which was a river channel at the time.[63][64] Failaka was located 15 kilometers from the mouth of the Euphrates river.[63][64] By the first century BC, the Khor Subiya river channel dried out completely.[63][64]

In 127 BC, Kuwait was part of the Parthian Empire and the kingdom of Characene was established around Teredon in present-day Kuwait.[65][66][67] Characene was centered in the region encompassing southern Mesopotamia,[68] Characene coins were discovered in Akkaz, Umm an Namil, and Failaka.[69][70] A busy Parthian commercial station was situated in Kuwait.[71]

The earliest recorded mention of Kuwait was in 150 AD in the geographical treatise Geography by Greek scholar Ptolemy.[59] Ptolemy mentioned the Bay of Kuwait as Hieros Kolpos (Sacer Sinus in the Latin versions).[59]

In 224 AD, Kuwait became part of the Sassanid Empire. At the time of the Sassanid Empire, Kuwait was known as Meshan,[72] which was an alternative name of the kingdom of Characene.[73][74] Akkaz was a Partho-Sassanian site;[75] the Sassanid religion's tower of silence was discovered in northern Akkaz.[75][76][77] Late Sassanian settlements were discovered in Failaka.[78] In Bubiyan, there is archaeological evidence of Sassanian to early Islamic periods of human presence as evidenced by the recent discovery of torpedo-jar pottery shards on several prominent beach ridges.[79]

Most of present-day Kuwait is still archaeologically unexplored.[27][26] According to several famous archaeologists and geologists, Kuwait was likely the original location of the Pishon River which watered the mythical Garden of Eden.[80][81][82][83] Juris Zarins argued that the Garden of Eden was situated at the head of the Persian Gulf (present-day Kuwait), where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run into the sea, from his research on this area using information from many different sources, including LANDSAT images from space. His suggestion about the Pishon River was supported by James A. Sauer of the American Center of Oriental Research.[84] Sauer made an argument from geology and history that Pishon River was the now-defunct Kuwait River.[84] With the aid of satellite photos, Farouk El-Baz traced the dry channel from Kuwait up the Wadi Al-Batin.[80][85][82][81]

In 636 AD, the Battle of Chains between the Sassanid Empire and Rashidun Caliphate was fought in Kuwait.[86][87] At the time, Kuwait was under the control of the Sassanid Empire. The Battle of Chains was the first battle of the Rashidun Caliphate in which the Muslim army sought to extend its frontiers.

As a result of Rashidun victory in 636 AD, the bay of Kuwait was home to the city of Kazma (also known as "Kadhima" or "Kāzimah") in the early Islamic era.[87][88][89][90][91][92][93] Medieval Arabic sources contain multiple references to the bay of Kuwait in the early Islamic period.[92][93][94] According to medieval sources, the city functioned as a trade port and resting place for pilgrims on their way from Iraq to Hejaz. The city was controlled by the kingdom of Al-Hirah in Iraq.[92][95][96] In the early Islamic period, the bay of Kuwait was known for being a fertile area.[87][97][98] The Kuwaiti city of Kazma was also a stop for caravans coming from Persia and Mesopotamia en route to the Arabian Peninsula. The poet Al-Farazdaq, recognized as one of the greatest classical poets of the Arabs,[99] was born in the Kuwaiti city of Kazma.[99]

Christian Nestorian settlements flourished across the bay of Kuwait from the 5th century until the 9th century.[100][101] Excavations have revealed several farms, villages and two large churches dating from the 5th and 6th century.[100] Archaeologists are currently excavating nearby sites to understand the extent of the settlements that flourished in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D.[100] An old island tradition is that a community grew up around a Christian mystic and hermit.[100] The small farms and villages were eventually abandoned.[100] Remains of Byzantine era Nestorian churches were found in Akkaz and Al-Qusur.[101][43] Pottery at the site can be dated from as early as the first half of the 7th century through the 9th century.[102][103]

1521–1918: Founding

 
Marine Museum in Kuwait City. Demonstrates the founding of Kuwait as a sea port for merchants.

In 1521, Kuwait was under Portuguese control.[104] In the late 16th century, the Portuguese built a defensive settlement in Kuwait.[105] In 1613, Kuwait City was founded as a fishing village. Administratively, it was a sheikhdom, ruled by local sheikhs from Bani Khalid clan.[106] In 1682 or 1716, the Bani Utbah settled in Kuwait City, which at this time was still inhabited by fishermen and primarily functioned as a fishing village under Bani Khalid control.[107][108] Sometime after the death of the Bani Khalid's leader Barrak Bin Urair and the fall of the Bani Khalid Emirate, the Utub were able to wrest control of Kuwait as a result of successive matrimonial alliances.[108]

In the early eighteenth century, Kuwait prospered as a maritime port city and rapidly became the principal commercial center for the transit of goods between Baghdad, India, Muscat, and Arabian Peninsula.[109][110] By the mid-1700s, Kuwait had established itself as the major trading route from the Persian Gulf to Aleppo.[111] During the Persian siege of Basra in 1775–79, Iraqi merchants took refuge in Kuwait and were partly instrumental in the expansion of Kuwait's boat-building and trading activities.[112] As a result, Kuwait's maritime commerce boomed,[112] as the Indian trade routes with Baghdad, Aleppo, Smyrna and Constantinople were diverted to Kuwait during this time.[111][113][114] The East India Company was diverted to Kuwait in 1792.[115] The East India Company secured the sea routes between Kuwait, India and the east coasts of Africa.[115] After the Persians withdrew from Basra in 1779, Kuwait continued to attract trade away from Basra.[116] The flight of many of Basra's leading merchants to Kuwait continued to play a significant role in Basra's commercial stagnation well into the 1850s.[116]

 
Unofficial map of Kuwait in 1874 according to Scottish geographer and cartographer Alexander Keith Johnston

According to Kuwaiti authors, the instability in Basra helped foster economic prosperity in Kuwait.[117][118] In the late 18th century, Kuwait was a haven for Basra merchants fleeing Ottoman persecution.[119] Kuwait was the center of boat building in the Persian Gulf,[120] its ships renowned throughout the Indian Ocean.[121][122] Kuwaitis also developed a reputation as the best sailors in the Persian Gulf.[109][123][124] In the 19th century, Kuwait became significant in the horse trade,[125] with regular shipments in sailing vessels.[125] In the mid 19th century, it was estimated that Kuwait exported an average of 800 horses to India annually.[117]

In the 1890s, threatened by the Ottoman Empire, ruler Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah signed an agreement with the British government in India (subsequently known as the Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899) making Kuwait a British protectorate. This gave Britain exclusive access and trade with Kuwait, while denying Ottoman provinces to the north a port on the Persian Gulf. The Sheikhdom of Kuwait remained a British protectorate until 1961.[106]

During the reign of Mubarak, Kuwait was dubbed the "Marseilles of the Persian Gulf" because its economic vitality attracted a large variety of people.[126][127] The population was cosmopolitan, ethnically and religiously diverse, including Arabs, Persians, Africans, Jews and Armenians. Kuwait was known for its religious tolerance.[128]

 
The Basra Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in 1897. After the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, Kuwait was established as an autonomous kaza, or district, of the Ottoman Empire and a de facto protectorate of Great Britain[129]

After the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, Kuwait was established as an autonomous kaza, or district, of the Ottoman Empire and a de facto protectorate of Great Britain.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, Kuwait had a well-established elite: wealthy trading families linked by marriage and shared economic interests, long-settled and urban, most claiming descent from the original 30 Bani Utubi families.[130] The wealthiest were merchants who acquired their wealth from long-distance commerce, shipbuilding and pearling.[130] They were a cosmopolitan elite who traveled extensively to India, Africa and Europe, and educated their sons abroad more than other Gulf Arab elite.[130] Western visitors noted the Kuwaiti elite used European office systems, typewriters, and followed European culture with curiosity.[130] The richest were involved in general trade.[130] The Kuwaiti merchant families of Al-Ghanim and Al-Hamad were estimated to be worth millions before the 1940s.[130]

In the early 20th century, Kuwait immensely declined in regional economic importance,[122] mainly due to many trade blockades and the world economic depression.[131] Before Mary Bruins Allison visited Kuwait in 1934, Kuwait lost its prominence in long-distance trade.[122] During World War I, the British Empire imposed a trade blockade against Kuwait because Kuwait's ruler at the time, Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, supported the Ottoman Empire.[131][132][133] The British economic blockade heavily damaged Kuwait's economy.[133]

1919–1945: After World War I

In 1919, Sheikh Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah intended to build a commercial city in the south of Kuwait. This caused a diplomatic crisis with Najd, but Britain intervened, discouraging Sheikh Salim. In 1920, an attempt by the Ikhwan to build a stronghold in southern Kuwait led to the Battle of Hamdh. The Battle of Hamdh involved 2,000 Ikhwan fighters against 100 Kuwaiti cavalrymen and 200 Kuwaiti infantrymen. The battle lasted for six days and resulted in heavy but unknown casualties on both sides resulting in the victory of the Ikhwan forces and leading to the battle of Jahra around the Kuwait Red Fort. The Battle of Jahra happened as the result of the Battle of Hamdh. A force of three to four thousand Ikhwan, led by Faisal Al-Dawish, attacked the Red Fort at Al-Jahra, defended by fifteen hundred men. The fort was besieged and the Kuwaiti position precarious; had the fort fallen, Kuwait would likely have been incorporated into Ibn Saud's empire.[134] The Ikhwan attack repulsed for the while, negotiations began between Salim and Al-Dawish; the latter threatened another attack if the Kuwaiti forces did not surrender. The local merchant class convinced Salim to call in help from British troops, who showed up with airplanes and three warships, ending the attacks.[134] After the Battle of Jahra, Ibn Saud's warriors, the Ikhwan, demanded that Kuwait follows five rules: evict all the Shias, adopt the Ikhwan doctrine, label the Turks "heretics", abolish smoking, munkar and prostitution, and destroy the American missionary hospital.[135]

The Kuwait–Najd War of 1919–20 erupted in the aftermath of World War I. The war occurred because Ibn Saud of Najd wanted to annex Kuwait.[131][136] The sharpened conflict between Kuwait and Najd led to the death of hundreds of Kuwaitis. The war resulted in sporadic border clashes throughout 1919–1920.

When Percy Cox was informed of the border clashes in Kuwait, he sent a letter to the Ruler of Arabistan Sheikh Khazʽal Ibn Jabir offering the Kuwaiti throne to either him or one of his heirs, knowing that Khaz'al would be a wiser ruler than the Al Sabah family. Khaz'al, who considered the Al Sabah as his own family, replied "Do you expect me to allow the stepping down of Al Mubarak from the throne of Kuwait? Do you think I can accept this?"[137] He then asked:

...even so, do you think that you have come to me with something new? Al Mubarak's position as ruler of Kuwait means that I am the true ruler of Kuwait. So there is no difference between myself and them, for they are like the dearest of my children and you are aware of this. Had someone else come to me with this offer, I would have complained about them to you. So how do you come to me with this offer when you are well aware that myself and Al Mubarak are one soul and one house, what affects them affects me, whether good or evil.[137]

Following the Kuwait–Najd War in 1919–20, Ibn Saud imposed a trade blockade against Kuwait from the years 1923 until 1937.[138] The goal of the Saudi economic and military attacks on Kuwait was to annex as much of Kuwait's territory as possible. At the Uqair conference in 1922, the boundaries of Kuwait and Najd were set; as a result of British interference, Kuwait had no representative at the Uqair conference. After the Uqair conference, Kuwait was still subjected to a Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi raiding.

 
Celebration at Seif Palace in 1944

The Great Depression harmed Kuwait's economy, starting in the late 1920s.[138] International trading was one of Kuwait's main sources of income before oil.[138] Kuwaiti merchants were mostly intermediary merchants.[138] As a result of the decline of European demand for goods from India and Africa, Kuwait's economy suffered. The decline in international trade resulted in an increase in gold smuggling by Kuwaiti ships to India.[138] Some Kuwaiti merchant families became rich from this smuggling.[139] Kuwait's pearl industry also collapsed as a result of the worldwide economic depression.[139] At its height, Kuwait's pearl industry had led the world's luxury market, regularly sending out between 750 and 800 ships to meet the European elite's desire for pearls.[139] During the economic depression, luxuries like pearls were in little demand.[139] The Japanese invention of cultured pearls also contributed to the collapse of Kuwait's pearl industry.[139]

In 1937, Freya Stark wrote about the extent of poverty in Kuwait at the time:[138]

Poverty has settled in Kuwait more heavily since my last visit five years ago, both by sea, where the pearl trade continues to decline, and by land, where the blockade established by Saudi Arabia now harms the merchants.

Attempts by Faisal king of Iraq to build a railway to Kuwait and port facilities on the Gulf were rejected by Britain. These and other similar British colonial policies made Kuwait a focus of the Arab national movement in Iraq, and a symbol of Iraqi humiliation at the hands of the British.[140]

Throughout the 1930s, Kuwaiti people opposed the British imposed separation of Kuwait from Iraq.[140] In 1938, the "Free Kuwaiti Movement" was established by Kuwaiti youth who opposed British rule and submitted a petition requesting the Iraqi government reunifies Kuwait and Iraq.[140][141] Due to fears of armed uprising in Kuwait, the Al Sabah agreed to the establishment of a legislative council to represent the "Free Kuwaiti Movement" demanding the reunification of Iraq and Kuwait.[140] The council's first meeting in 1938 resulted in unanimous resolutions demanding the reunification of Kuwait and Iraq.[140]

On 22 February 1938, oil was first discovered in the Burgan field.

In March 1939, a popular armed uprising erupted within Kuwait to reunify with Iraq.[140] The Al Sabah family, along with British military support, violently put down the uprising, and killed and imprisoned its participants.[140] King Ghazi of Iraq publicly demanded the release of the Kuwaiti prisoners and warned the Al Sabah family to end the repression of the "Free Kuwaiti Movement".[140][141]

1946–1982: State-building

Between 1946 and 1982, Kuwait experienced a period of prosperity driven by oil and its liberal atmosphere.[142][143][144] In popular discourse, the years between 1946 and 1982 are referred to as the "Golden Era of Kuwait".[142][143][144][145] In 1950, a major public-work programme began to enable Kuwaitis to enjoy a modern standard of living. By 1952, the country became the largest oil exporter in the Persian Gulf region. This massive growth attracted many foreign workers, especially from Palestine, India, and Egypt – with the latter being particularly political within the context of the Arab Cold War.[146] It was also in 1952 that the first masterplan of Kuwait was designed by the British planning firm of Minoprio, Spenceley, and Macfarlane.

In June 1961, Kuwait became independent with the end of the British protectorate and the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah became Emir of Kuwait. Kuwait's national day, however, is celebrated on 25 February, the anniversary of the coronation of Sheikh Abdullah (it was originally celebrated on 19 June, the date of independence, but concerns over the summer heat caused the government to move it).[147] Under the terms of the newly drafted Constitution, Kuwait held its first parliamentary elections in 1963. Kuwait was the first of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf to establish a constitution and parliament.

 
HMS Victorious taking part in Operation Vantage in July 1961

Although Kuwait formally gained independence in 1961, Iraq initially refused to recognize the country's independence by maintaining that Kuwait is part of Iraq, albeit Iraq later briefly backed down following a show of force by Britain and Arab League support of Kuwait's independence.[148][149][150] The short-lived Operation Vantage crisis evolved in July 1961, as the Iraqi government threatened to invade Kuwait and the invasion was finally averted following plans by the Arab League to form an international Arab force against the potential Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.[151][152] As a result of Operation Vantage, the Arab League took over the border security of Kuwait and the British had withdrawn their forces by 19 October.[148] Iraqi prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim was killed in a coup in 1963 but, although Iraq recognised Kuwaiti independence and the military threat was perceived to be reduced, Britain continued to monitor the situation and kept forces available to protect Kuwait until 1971. There had been no Iraqi military action against Kuwait at the time: this was attributed to the political and military situation within Iraq which continued to be unstable.[9] A treaty of friendship between Iraq and Kuwait was signed in 1963 by which Iraq recognised the 1932 border of Kuwait.[153] After the 1967 Six Day War Kuwait along with other Arab speaking countries voted the three no's of the Khartoum Resolution: no peace with Israel, no Recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel. The Kuwait-Iraq 1973 Sanita border skirmish evolved on 20 March 1973, when Iraqi army units occupied El-Samitah near the Kuwaiti border, which evoked an international crisis.[154]

On 6 February 1974, Palestinian militants occupied the Japanese embassy in Kuwait, taking the ambassador and ten others hostage. The militants' motive was to support the Japanese Red Army members and Palestinian militants who were holding hostages on a Singaporean ferry in what is known as the Laju incident. Ultimately, the hostages were released, and the guerrillas allowed to fly to Aden. This was the first time Palestinian guerrillas struck in Kuwait as the Al Sabah ruling family, headed by Sheikh Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, funded the Palestinian resistance movement. Kuwait had been a regular endpoint for Palestinian plane hijacking in the past and had considered itself safe.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Kuwait was considered the most developed country in the region.[155][156][157] Kuwait was the pioneer in the Middle East in diversifying its earnings away from oil exports.[158] The Kuwait Investment Authority is the world's first sovereign wealth fund. From the 1970s onward, Kuwait scored highest of all Arab countries on the Human Development Index.[157] Kuwait University was established in 1966.[157] Kuwait's theatre industry was well known throughout the Arab world.[142][157]

In the 1960s and 1970s, Kuwait's press was described as one of the freest in the world.[159] Kuwait was the pioneer in the literary renaissance in the Arab region.[160] In 1958, Al-Arabi magazine was first published. The magazine went on to become the most popular magazine in the Arab world.[160] Many Arab writers moved to Kuwait because they enjoyed greater freedom of expression than elsewhere in the Arab world.[161][162] The Iraqi poet Ahmed Matar left Iraq in the 1970s to take refuge in the more liberal environment of Kuwait.

Kuwaiti society embraced liberal and non-traditional attitudes throughout the 1960s and 1970s.[163] For example, most Kuwaiti women did not wear the hijab in the 1960s and 70s.[164][165]

1982–1990: Gulf War

In the early 1980s, Kuwait experienced a major economic crisis after the Souk Al-Manakh stock market crash and decrease in oil price.[166][167][168][169]

During the Iran–Iraq War, Kuwait supported Iraq. Throughout the 1980s, there were several terror attacks in Kuwait, including the 1983 Kuwait bombings, hijacking of several Kuwait Airways planes and the attempted assassination of Emir Jaber in 1985. Kuwait was a regional hub of science and technology in the 1960s and 1970s up until the early 1980s; the scientific research sector significantly suffered due to the terror attacks.[170]

 
Kuwaiti oil fires set by retreating Iraqi forces in 1991.

After the Iran–Iraq War ended, Kuwait declined an Iraqi request to forgive its US$65 billion debt.[171] An economic rivalry between the two countries ensued after Kuwait increased its oil production by 40 percent.[172] Tensions between the two countries increased further in July 1990, after Iraq complained to OPEC claiming that Kuwait was stealing its oil from a field near the border by slant drilling of the Rumaila field.[172]

In August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait without any warning. After a series of failed diplomatic negotiations, the United States led a coalition to remove the Iraqi forces from Kuwait, in what became known as the Gulf War. On 26 February 1991, in phase of code-named Operation Desert Storm, the coalition succeeded in driving out the Iraqi forces. As they retreated, Iraqi forces carried out a scorched earth policy by setting oil wells on fire.[173] During the Iraqi occupation, more than 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians were killed. In addition, more than 600 Kuwaitis went missing during Iraq's occupation;[174] remains of approximately 375 were found in mass graves in Iraq. Kuwait celebrates February 26 as Liberation Day. The event marked the country as the centre of the last major war in the 20th century.

 
Smoke from burning Kuwait oil fields after Saddam Hussein set fire to them during the Gulf war.

1991–Present: Present era

In the early 1990s, Kuwait expelled approximately 400,000 Palestinian expats.[175] Kuwait's policy was a response to alignment of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the PLO with Saddam Hussein. Kuwait also deported thousands of Iraqis and Yemenis after the Gulf War.[176][177]

In addition, hundreds of thousands of stateless Bedoon were expelled from Kuwait in the early-to-mid 1990s.[178][179][176][13][177] At the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1995, it was announced that the Al Sabah ruling family deported 150,000 stateless Bedoon to refugee camps in the Kuwaiti desert near the Iraqi border with minimal water, insufficient food, and no basic shelter.[180][179] The Kuwaiti authorities also threatened to murder the stateless Bedoon.[180][179] As a result, many of the stateless Bedoon fled to Iraq where they still remain stateless people even today.[181][182]

In March 2003, Kuwait became the springboard for the US-led invasion of Iraq. In 2005, women won the right to vote and run in elections. Upon the death of the Emir Jaber in January 2006, Sheikh Saad Al-Sabah succeeded him but was removed nine days later due to his failing health. As a result, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was sworn in as Emir. From 2006 onwards, Kuwait suffered from chronic political deadlock between the government and parliament which resulted in multiple cabinet reshuffles and dissolutions.[183] This significantly hampered investment and economic reforms in Kuwait, making the country's economy much more dependent on oil.[183]

From 2006 to 2009, Kuwait had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the Arab world.[184][185][186][187] China awarded Kuwait Investment Authority an additional $700 million quota on top of $300 million awarded in March 2012.[188] The quota is the highest to be granted by China to foreign investment entities.[188] In 2014 and 2015, Kuwait was ranked first among Arab countries in the Global Gender Gap Report.[189][190][191]

In March 2014, David S. Cohen, who was then Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, accused Kuwait of funding terrorism.[192] Since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, accusations of Kuwait funding terrorism have been very common and come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports, Western government officials, scholarly research, and renowned journalists.[193][194][195][196][197][198][199][200][201][192] From 2014 to 2015, Kuwait was frequently described as the world's biggest source of terrorism funding, particularly for ISIS and Al-Qaeda.[193][194][195][201][192][199][196][197]

On 26 June 2015, a suicide bombing took place at a Shia Muslim mosque in Kuwait. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack. Twenty-seven people were killed and 227 people were wounded. It was the largest terror attack in Kuwait's history. In the aftermath, a lawsuit was filed accusing the Kuwaiti government of negligence and direct responsibility for the terror attack.[202][203]

Due to declining oil prices since the late 2010s, Kuwait has been facing one of the worst economic crunches in the entire region.[204] Historically, Kuwait's infrastructure projects market has underperformed its potential due to political deadlock between the government and parliament.[205][183] Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City was inaugurated in mid-2016.[206][207][208][209][210] In 2020, the Kuwaiti government experienced its first fiscal deficit since 1995.[211][212]

In recent years, Kuwait has invested significantly in its economic relations with China.[213] China has been Kuwait's largest trade partner since 2016.[214][215][216][217][218] Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Kuwait and China have various cooperation projects including South al-Mutlaa which is currently under construction in northern Kuwait.[219][220][221][222][223] The Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway is part of the first phase of the Silk City project.[224] The causeway was inaugurated in May 2019 as part of Kuwait Vision 2035,[225][226] it connects Kuwait City to northern Kuwait.[225][224] The Kuwait National Cultural District comprises the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre, Al Shaheed Park, and Al Salam Palace.[227][228][229][230] In 2020, Kuwait's domestic travel and tourism spending was $6.1 billion.[231]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated Kuwait's economic crisis.[232][233][234][235] Kuwait's economy faced a budget deficit of $46 billion in 2020.[236][237][183] In September 2020, Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah became the 16th Emir of Kuwait and the successor to Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who died at the age of 91.[238] In October 2020, Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was appointed as the Crown Prince.[239][240][241][242]

Kuwait currently has the largest US military presence in the Middle East region.[243] There are over 14,000 US military personnel stationed in the country.[243] Camp Arifjan is the largest US military base in Kuwait.

Geography

 
Skyline of Kuwait City, capital and largest city of Kuwait.
 
A satellite image of Kuwait reveals its desert topography.
 
Kuwait shares land borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and maritime borders with Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Located in the north-east corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Kuwait is one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of land area. Kuwait lies between latitudes 28° and 31° N, and longitudes 46° and 49° E. Kuwait is generally low-lying, with the highest point being 306 m (1,004 ft) above sea level.[9] Mutla Ridge is the highest point in Kuwait.

Kuwait has ten islands.[244] With an area of 860 km2 (330 sq mi), the Bubiyan is the largest island in Kuwait and is connected to the rest of the country by a 2,380-metre-long (7,808 ft) bridge.[245] 0.6% of Kuwaiti land area is considered arable[9] with sparse vegetation found along its 499-kilometre-long (310 mi) coastline.[9] Kuwait City is located on Kuwait Bay, a natural deep-water harbor.

Kuwait's Burgan field has a total capacity of approximately 70 billion barrels (11 billion cubic metres) of proven oil reserves. During the 1991 Kuwaiti oil fires, more than 500 oil lakes were created covering a combined surface area of about 35.7 km2 (13+34 sq mi).[246] The resulting soil contamination due to oil and soot accumulation had made eastern and south-eastern parts of Kuwait uninhabitable. Sand and oil residue had reduced large parts of the Kuwaiti desert to semi-asphalt surfaces.[247] The oil spills during the Gulf War also drastically affected Kuwait's marine resources.[248]

Climate

Due to Kuwait's proximity to Iraq and Iran, the winter season in Kuwait is colder than other coastal countries in the region (especially UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain).[249] Kuwait is also less humid than other coastal countries in the region. The spring season in March is warm with occasional thunderstorms. The frequent winds from the northwest are cold in winter and hot in summer. Southeasterly damp winds spring up between July and October. Hot and dry south winds prevail in spring and early summer. The shamal, a northwesterly wind common during June and July, causes dramatic sandstorms.[250] Summers in Kuwait are some of the hottest on earth. The highest recorded temperature was 54 °C (129 °F) at Mitribah on 21 July 2016, which is the highest temperature recorded in Asia.[251][252]

Kuwait emits a lot of carbon dioxide per person compared to most other countries.[253] In recent years, Kuwait has been regularly ranked among the world's highest countries in term of CO2 per capita emissions.[254][255][256]

Nature reserves

At present, there are five protected areas in Kuwait recognized by the IUCN. In response to Kuwait becoming the 169th signatory of the Ramsar Convention, Bubiyan Island's Mubarak al-Kabeer reserve was designated as the country's first Wetland of International Importance.[257] The 50,948 ha reserve consists of small lagoons and shallow salt marshes and is important as a stop-over for migrating birds on two migration routes.[257] The reserve is home to the world's largest breeding colony of crab-plover.[257]

Biodiversity

Currently, 444 species of birds have been recorded in Kuwait, 18 species of which breed in the country.[258] The arfaj is the national flower of Kuwait.[259] Due to its location at the head of the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Tigris–Euphrates river, Kuwait is situated at the crossroads of many major bird migration routes and between two and three million birds pass each year.[260] Kuwait's marine and littoral ecosystems contain the bulk of the country's biodiversity heritage.[260] The marshes in northern Kuwait and Jahra have become increasingly important as a refuge for passage migrants.[260]

Twenty eight species of mammal are found in Kuwait; animals such as gerboa, desert rabbits and hedgehogs are common in the desert.[260] Large carnivores, such as the wolf, caracal and jackal, are longer present.[260] Among the endangered mammalian species are the red fox and wild cat.[260] Forty reptile species have been recorded although none are endemic to Kuwait.[260]

Kuwait, Oman and Yemen are the only locations where the endangered smoothtooth blacktip shark is confirmed as occurring.[261]

Kuwaiti islands are important breeding areas for four species of tern and the socotra cormorant.[260] Kubbar Island has been recognised an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of white-cheeked terns.[262]

Water and sanitation

Kuwait is part of the Tigris–Euphrates river system basin.[263][264][265][266][267][268] Several Tigris–Euphrates confluences form parts of the Kuwait–Iraq border.[269] Bubiyan Island is part of the Shatt al-Arab delta.[79] Kuwait is partially part of the Mesopotamian Marshes.[270][271][272] Kuwait does not currently have any permanent rivers within its territory. However, Kuwait does have several wadis, the most notable of which is Wadi al-Batin which forms the border between Kuwait and Iraq.[273] Kuwait also has several river-like marine channels around Bubiyan Island, most notably Khawr Abd Allah which is now an estuary, but once was the point where the Shatt al-Arab emptied into the Persian Gulf. Khawr Abd Allah is located in southern Iraq and northern Kuwait, the Iraq-Kuwait border divides the lower portion of the estuary, but adjacent to the port of Umm Qasr the estuary becomes wholly Iraqi. It forms the northeast coastline of Bubiyan Island and the north coastline of Warbah Island.[274]

Kuwait relies on water desalination as a primary source of fresh water for drinking and domestic purposes.[275][276] There are currently more than six desalination plants.[276] Kuwait was the first country in the world to use desalination to supply water for large-scale domestic use. The history of desalination in Kuwait dates back to 1951 when the first distillation plant was commissioned.[275]

In 1965, the Kuwaiti government commissioned the Swedish engineering company of VBB (Sweco) to develop and implement a plan for a modern water-supply system for Kuwait City. The company built five groups of water towers, thirty-one towers total, designed by its chief architect Sune Lindström, called "the mushroom towers". For a sixth site, the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed, wanted a more spectacular design. This last group, known as Kuwait Towers, consists of three towers, two of which also serve as water towers.[277] Water from the desalination facility is pumped up to the tower. The thirty-three towers have a standard capacity of 102,000 cubic meters of water. "The Water Towers" (Kuwait Tower and the Kuwait Water Towers) were awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1980 Cycle).[278]

Kuwait's fresh water resources are limited to groundwater, desalinated seawater, and treated wastewater effluents.[275] There are three major municipal wastewater treatment plants.[275] Most water demand is currently satisfied through seawater desalination plants.[275][276] Sewage disposal is handled by a national sewage network that covers 98% of facilities in the country.[279]

Government and politics

Political system

Kuwait is a semi-constitutional emirate,[3] which is sometimes described as "anocratic".[280] The Polity data series[283] and Economist Democracy Index[284] both categorize Kuwait as an autocracy (dictatorship). Freedom House rates the country as "partly free" in the Freedom in the World survey.[285] The Emir is the head of state. The political system consists of an appointed government (dominated by the Al Sabah ruling family), appointed judiciary, and elected legislature. The Constitution of Kuwait was promulgated in 1962.[286]

 
The Seif Palace, the original seat of the Government of Kuwait.

Executive power is executed by the government. The Emir appoints the prime minister, who in turn chooses the cabinet of ministers comprising the government. In recent decades, numerous policies of the Kuwaiti government have been characterized as "demographic engineering", especially in relation to Kuwait's stateless Bedoon crisis and the history of naturalization in Kuwait.

The Emir appoints all the judges and many judges are foreign nationals from Egypt. The Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution. Kuwait has an active public sphere and civil society with political and social organizations that are parties in all but name.[287][288] Professional groups like the Chamber of Commerce maintain their autonomy from the government.[287][288]

The legislative branch consists of the National Assembly, which has nominal oversight authority. As per article 107 of the Kuwait constitution, the Emir can dissolve the parliament so long as an election for a new assembly are held within two months of the dissolution.[289] Due to frequent cabinet resignations, Kuwait has a new government every eight months. The political instability has significantly hampered the country's economic development and infrastructure.[290][183][233]

The Emir has suspended the constitution twice: in 1976 under Sheikh Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah and 1986 under Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah.[3] Kuwait is regularly characterized as being a "rentier state" in which the ruling family uses oil revenues to buy the political acquiescence of the citizenry; more than 70% of government spending consists of public sector salaries and subsidies.[291] Kuwait has the highest public sector wage bill in the GCC region as public sector wages account for 12.4% of GDP.[236]

Although Kuwaiti women outnumber men in the workforce,[292] the political participation of Kuwaiti women has been limited.[293] Kuwaiti women are considered among the most emancipated women in the Middle East. In 2014 and 2015, Kuwait was ranked first among Arab countries in the Global Gender Gap Report.[189][190][191] In 2013, 53% of Kuwaiti women participated in the labor force.[294] Kuwait has higher female citizen participation in the workforce than other GCC countries.[292][294][295] According to the Social Progress Index, Kuwait ranks first in social progress in the Arab world and Muslim world and second highest in the Middle East after Israel.[296] Kuwait ranks among the world's top countries by life expectancy,[297] women's workforce participation,[292][294] global food security,[298] and school order and safety.[299]

Al Sabah dynasty

Article 4 of the Kuwait constitution stipulates that Kuwait is a hereditary emirate whose emir must be an heir of Mubarak Al-Sabah.[289] Mubarak had four sons, but an informal pattern of alternation between the descendants of his sons Jabir and Salem emerged since his death in 1915.[300] This pattern of succession had one exception before 2006, when Sheikh Sabah Al-Salim, a son of Salem, was named crown prince to succeed his half-brother Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem as a consequence of infighting and lack of consensus within the ruling family council.[300] The alternating system was resumed when Sheikh Sabah Al-Salim named Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed of the Jabir branch as his crown prince, eventually ruling as Emir for 29 years from 1977 to 2006.[300] On January 15, 2006, Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed died and his crown prince, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah of the Salem branch was named Emir.[301] On January 23, 2006, the National Assembly unanimously voted in favor of Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah abdicating in favor of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed, citing his illness with a form of dementia.[300] Instead of naming a successor from the Salem branch as per convention, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed named his half-brother Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed as crown prince and his nephew Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed as prime minister.[300]

Article 4 of the Kuwait constitution stipulates that the incoming Emir's choice of crown prince needs to be approved by an absolute majority of the National Assembly.[289] If this approval is not achieved, the emir is constitutionally required to submit three alternative candidates for crown prince to the National Assembly.[289] This process has caused contenders for power to engage in alliance-building in the political scene, which has taken historically private feuding within the ruling family to the "public arena and the political realm".[300]

Foreign relations

 
Kuwait's then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al Khalid Al Sabah with then US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in 2017.

The foreign affairs of Kuwait are handled at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first foreign affairs department bureau was established in 1961. Kuwait became the 111th member state of the United Nations in May 1963. It is a long-standing member of the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council.

Before the Gulf War, Kuwait was the only "pro-Soviet" state in the Persian Gulf region.[302] Kuwait acted as a conduit for the Soviets to the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf, and Kuwait was used to demonstrate the benefits of a pro-Soviet stance.[302] In July 1987, Kuwait refused to allow U.S. military bases in its territory.[303] As a result of the Gulf War, Kuwait's relations with the U.S. have improved (major non-NATO ally). Kuwait is also a major ally of ASEAN and enjoys a close economic relationship with China while working to establish a model of cooperation in numerous fields.[304][305]

Kuwait is a major non-NATO ally to the United States and currently has the largest US military presence in the entire Middle East region.[243] The United States government utilizes Kuwait-based military bases as staging hubs, training ranges, and logistical support for regional and international military operations.[243] The bases include Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, Ali Al Salem Air Field, and the naval base Camp Patriot.[243] Kuwait also has strong economic ties to China and ASEAN.[306][307]

Under the Belt and Road Initiative,[308][224] Kuwait and China have many important cooperation projects including South al-Mutlaa and Mubarak Al Kabeer Port.[219][220][221][309][224]

Military

The Military of Kuwait traces its original roots to the Kuwaiti cavalrymen and infantrymen that used to protect Kuwait and its wall since the early 1900s. These cavalrymen and infantrymen formed the defense and security forces in metropolitan areas and were charged with protecting outposts outside the wall of Kuwait.

The Military of Kuwait consists of several joint defense forces. The governing bodies are the Kuwait Ministry of Defense, the Kuwait Ministry of Interior, the Kuwait National Guard, and the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate. The Emir of Kuwait is the commander-in-chief of all defense forces by default.

Legal system

Kuwait follows the "civil law system" modeled after the French legal system,[310][311][312] Kuwait's legal system is largely secular.[313][314][315][316] Sharia law governs only family law for Muslim residents,[314][317] while non-Muslims in Kuwait have a secular family law. For the application of family law, there are three separate court sections: Sunni (Maliki), Shia, and non-Muslim. According to the United Nations, Kuwait's legal system is a mix of English common law, French civil law, Egyptian civil law and Islamic law.[318]

The court system in Kuwait is secular.[319][320] Unlike other Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Kuwait does not have Sharia courts.[320] Sections of the civil court system administer family law.[320] Kuwait has the most secular commercial law in the Persian Gulf region.[321] The parliament criminalized alcohol consumption in 1983.[322] Kuwait's Code of Personal Status was promulgated in 1984.[323]

Administrative divisions

Kuwait is divided into six governorates: Al Asimah Governorate (or Capital Governorate); Hawalli Governorate; Farwaniya Governorate; Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate; Ahmadi Governorate; and Jahra Governorate. The governorates are further subdivided into areas.

Human rights and corruption

Human rights in Kuwait has been the subject of significant criticism, particularly regarding the Bedoon (stateless people).[13][178][324][176] The Kuwaiti government's handling of the stateless Bedoon crisis has come under criticism from many human rights organisations and even the United Nations.[325] According to Human Rights Watch in 1995, Kuwait has produced 300,000 stateless Bedoon.[14] Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region.[178][326] Since 1986, the Kuwaiti government has refused to grant any form of documentation to the Bedoon including birth certificates, death certificates, identity cards, marriage certificates, and driving licences.[326][327] The Kuwaiti Bedoon crisis resembles the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar (Burma).[328] According to several human rights organizations, Kuwait is committing ethnic cleansing and genocide against the stateless Bedoon.[13][178][326]

On the other hand, human rights organizations have criticized Kuwait for the human rights abuses toward foreign nationals. Foreign nationals account for 70% of Kuwait's total population. The kafala system leaves foreign nationals prone to exploitation. Administrative deportation is very common in Kuwait for minor offenses, including minor traffic violations. Kuwait is one of the world's worst offenders in human trafficking. Hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals are subjected to numerous human rights abuses including involuntary servitude. They are subjected to physical and sexual abuse, non-payment of wages, poor work conditions, threats, confinement to the home, and withholding of passports to restrict their freedom of movement.[329][330] Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic vaccination rollout, Kuwait has been regularly accused of implementing a xenophobic vaccine policy toward foreign nationals.[331]

Kuwait's mistreatment of foreign workers has resulted in various high-profile diplomatic crises. In 2018, there was a diplomatic crisis between Kuwait and the Philippines due to the mistreatment of Filipino workers in Kuwait. Approximately 60% of Filipinos in Kuwait are employed as domestic workers. In July 2018, Kuwaiti fashionista Sondos Alqattan released a controversial video criticizing domestic workers from the Philippines.[332] In 2020, there was a diplomatic crisis between Kuwait and Egypt due to the mistreatment of Egyptian workers in Kuwait.[333]

Various Kuwaitis have been jailed after they criticized the Al Sabah ruling family.[334] In 2010, the U.S. State Department said it had concerns about the case of Kuwaiti blogger and journalist Mohammad Abdul-Kader al-Jassem who was on trial for allegedly criticizing the ruling al-Sabah family, and faced up to 18 years in prison if convicted.[335] He was detained after a complaint against him was issued by the office of Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.[335]

Extensive corruption among Kuwait's high-level government officials is a serious problem resulting in tensions between the government and the public.[336] In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2007, Kuwait was ranked 60th out of 179 countries for corruption (least corrupt countries are at the top of the list). On a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 the most corrupt and 10 the most transparent, Transparency International rated Kuwait 4.3.[337]

In 2009, 20% of the youth in juvenile centres had dyslexia, as compared to the 6% of the general population.[338] Data from a 1993 study found that there is a higher rate of psychiatric morbidity in Kuwaiti prisons than in the general population.[339]

Economy

 
Al Hamra Tower is the tallest sculpted tower in the world.
 
A proportional representation of Kuwait exports, 2019

Kuwait has a wealthy petroleum-based economy.[340] Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world.[341][342][343][344] The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest-valued unit of currency in the world.[21] According to the World Bank, Kuwait is the fifth richest country in the world by gross national income per capita, and one of five nations with a GNI per capita above $70,000.[341] As a result of various diversification policies, petroleum now accounts for 43% of total GDP and 70% of export earnings.[217] The biggest non-oil industry is steel manufacturing.[345][346][347][348][349] It is noteworthy in the study that Kuwait ranked first in the Arab world and 11th globally in the number of small and medium enterprises per 1,000 people, with a score of 67.3 points. sorces ( https://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/kuwait-billionaires-richest-worldwide/)

In the past five years, there has been a significant rise in entrepreneurship and small business start-ups in Kuwait.[350][351] The informal sector is also on the rise,[352] mainly due to the popularity of Instagram businesses.[353][354][355] In 2020, Kuwait ranked fourth in the MENA region in startup funding after the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.[356]

In 2019, Iraq was Kuwait's leading export market and food/agricultural products accounted for 94.2% of total export commodities.[357] Globally, Kuwait's main export products were mineral fuels including oil (89.1% of total exports), aircraft and spacecraft (4.3%), organic chemicals (3.2%), plastics (1.2%), iron and steel (0.2%), gems and precious metals (0.1%), machinery including computers (0.1%), aluminum (0.1%), copper (0.1%), and salt, sulphur, stone and cement (0.1%).[358] Kuwait was the world's biggest exporter of sulfonated, nitrated and nitrosated hydrocarbons in 2019.[359] Kuwait was ranked 63rd out of 157 countries in the 2019 Economic Complexity Index (ECI).[359]

In recent years, Kuwait has enacted certain measures to regulate foreign labor due to security concerns. For instance, workers from Georgia are subject to heightened scrutiny when applying for entry visas, and an outright ban was imposed on the entry of domestic workers from Guinea-Bissau and Vietnam.[360] Workers from Bangladesh are also banned.[361] In April 2019, Kuwait added Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the list of banned countries bringing the total to 20. According to Migrant Rights, the bans are put in place mainly due to the fact that these countries lack embassies and labour corporations in Kuwait.[362]

Kuwait is currently considered the region's most oil-dependent country with the lowest share of economic diversification.[183][233][363]

Petroleum and natural gas

Despite its relatively small territory, Kuwait has proven crude oil reserves of 104 billion barrels, estimated to be 10% of the world's reserves. Kuwait also has substantial natural gas reserves. All natural resources in the country are state property.

As part of Kuwait Vision 2035, Kuwait aims to position itself as a global hub for the petrochemical industry.[364] Al Zour Refinery is the largest refinery in the Middle East.[365][366][367] It is Kuwait's largest environmentally friendly oil refinery,[368][364] where this refers to the effect on the local environment as opposed to the global environmental impact of burning the resulting oil. This Al Zour Refinery is a Kuwait-China cooperation project under the Belt and Road Initiative.[369] Al Zour LNG Terminal is the Middle East's largest import terminal for liquefied natural gas.[370][371][372] It is the world's largest capacity LNG storage and regasification green field project.[373][374] The project has attracted investments worth US$3 billion.[375][376] Other megaprojects include biofuel and clean fuels.[377][378]

Steel manufacturing

Steel manufacturing is Kuwait's second biggest industry.[346] United Steel Industrial Company (KWT Steel) is Kuwait's main steel manufacturing company, the company caters to all of Kuwait's domestic market demands (particularly construction).[347][345][348][349] Kuwait is self-sufficient in steel.[347][345][348][349]

Agriculture

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.[379] 8.5% of Kuwait's entire territory consists of agricultural land, although arable land constitutes 0.6% of Kuwait's entire territory.[380][381] Historically, Jahra was a predominantly agricultural area. There are currently various farms in Jahra.[382]

Finance

The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) is Kuwait's largest sovereign wealth fund specializing in foreign investment. The KIA is the world's oldest sovereign wealth fund. Since 1953, the Kuwaiti government has directed investments into Europe, United States and Asia Pacific. In 2021, the holdings were valued at around $700 billion in assets.[383][384] It is the 3rd largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.[383][384]

Kuwait has a leading position in the financial industry in the GCC.[385] The Emir has promoted the idea that Kuwait should focus its energies, in terms of economic development, on the financial industry.[385] The historical preeminence of Kuwait (among the GCC monarchies) in finance dates back to the founding of the National Bank of Kuwait in 1952.[385] The bank was the first local publicly traded corporation in the GCC region.[385] In the late 1970s and early 1980s, an alternative stock market, trading in shares of GCC companies, emerged in Kuwait, the Souk Al-Manakh.[385] 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.[385]

Kuwait has a large wealth-management industry that stands out in the region.[385] Kuwaiti investment companies administer more assets than those of any other GCC country, save the much larger Saudi Arabia.[385] The Kuwait Financial Centre, in a rough calculation, estimated that Kuwaiti firms accounted for over one-third of the total assets under management in the GCC.[385]

The relative strength of Kuwait in the financial industry extends to its stock market.[385] For many years, the total valuation of all companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange far exceeded the value of those on any other GCC bourse, except Saudi Arabia.[385] In 2011, financial and banking companies made up more than half of the market capitalization of the Kuwaiti bourse; among all the GCC states, the market capitalization of Kuwaiti financial-sector firms was, in total, behind only that of Saudi Arabia.[385] In recent years, Kuwaiti investment companies have invested large percentages of their assets abroad, and their foreign assets have become substantially larger than their domestic assets.[385]

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. In 1974, the fund's lending mandate was expanded to include all developing countries in the world.

Health

Kuwait has a state-funded healthcare system, which provides treatment without charge to Kuwaiti nationals. There are outpatient clinics in every residential area in Kuwait. A public insurance scheme exists to provide reduced cost healthcare to expatriates. Private healthcare providers also run medical facilities in the country, available to members of their insurance schemes. As part of Kuwait Vision 2035, many new hospitals recently opened.[386][387][388] In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kuwait invested in its health care system at a rate that was proportionally higher than most other GCC countries.[389] Under the Kuwait Vision 2035 healthcare strategy, the public hospital sector significantly increased its capacity.[387][386][388] Many new hospitals recently opened, Kuwait currently has 20 public hospitals.[390][387][386][388] The new Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital is the largest hospital in the Middle East.[391] Kuwait also has 16 private hospitals.[386]

Private sector hospitals in Kuwait offer multiple specialities. This trend is likely to grow further, especially in tapping opportunities to reduce treatments performed overseas and develop inbound medical tourism market by developing high end speciality hospitals.[392]

Science and technology

Kuwait has a growing scientific research sector. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Kuwait has registered 448 patents as of 31 December 2015,[393] Kuwait is the second largest patent producer in the Arab world.[393][394][395][396] In the early 2010s, Kuwait produced the largest number of scientific publications and patents per capita in the Arab world and OIC.[397][398][399][400][401] The Kuwaiti government has implemented various programs to foster innovation resulting in patent rights.[398][397] Between 2010 and 2014, Kuwait registered the highest growth in patents in the Arab world.[398][397][395] The WIPO Global Innovation Index found that Kuwait ranks relatively high for its innovation efficiency ratio (which shows how much innovation output a country is getting for its inputs).[402] Kuwait was ranked 72nd in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 60th in 2019.[403][404][405][406]

Kuwait was the first country in the region to implement 5G technology.[407] Kuwait is among the world's leading markets in 5G penetration.[407][408]

Space and satellite programmes

Kuwait has an emerging space industry which is largely driven by private sector initiatives.[409]

Um Alaish 4

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".[410] 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). It provided satellite communication services in Kuwait until 1990 when it was destroyed by the Iraqi armed forces during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.[411] 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. The station was named Um Alaish 4 to continue the legacy of "Um Alaish" satellite station.[412] Um Alaish 4 is a member of FUNcube distributed ground station network[413] and the Satellite Networked Open Ground Station project (SatNOGS).[414]

Kuwait's first satellite

Kuwait's Orbital Space in collaboration with the Space Challenges Program[415] and EnduroSat[416] introduced an international initiative called "Code in Space". The initiative allows students from around the world to send and execute their own code in space.[417] The code is transmitted from a satellite ground station to a cubesat (nanosatellite) orbiting earth 500 km (310 mi) above sea level. The code is then executed by the satellite's onboard computer and tested under real space environment conditions. The nanosatellite is called "QMR-KWT" (Arabic: قمر الكويت) which means "Moon of Kuwait", translated from Arabic.[418]

QMR-KWT launched to space on 30 June 2021[419] 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.[420] It was deployed into its final orbit (Sun-synchronous orbit) on 16 July 2021.[421] QMR-KWT is Kuwait's first satellite.[419][422][418]

 
Prototype of the Kuwait Space Rocket
Kuwait Space Rocket

The Kuwait Space Rocket (KSR) is a Kuwaiti project to build and launch the first suborbital liquid bi-propellant rocket in Arabia.[423] 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 (5.0 mi) and a more expansive suborbital test phase with the KSR-2 planned to fly to an altitude of 100 km (62 mi).[424]

TSCK experiment in space

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. 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. 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.[425] The students' experiment was named "Kuwait's Experiment: E.coli Consuming Carbon Dioxide to Combat Climate Change".[426][427] The experiment was launched on SpaceX CRS-21 (SpX-21) spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) on 6 December 2020. Astronaut Shannon Walker (member of the ISS Expedition 64) conducted the experiment on behalf of the students.

National satellite project

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.[428][429]

Education

Kuwait had the highest literacy rate in the Arab world in 2010.[430] 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).[431] Schooling at primary and intermediate level is compulsory for all students aged 6 – 14. All the levels of state education, including higher education, are free.[432] The public education system is undergoing a revamp due to a project in conjunction with the World Bank.[433][434]

Tourism

In 2020, Kuwait's domestic travel and tourism spending reached $6.1 billion (up from $1.6 billion in 2019) with family tourism a rapidly growing segment.[231] 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.[231] In 2016, the tourism industry generated nearly $500 million in revenue.[435] In 2015, tourism accounted for 1.5 percent of the GDP.[436][437] Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City is one of Kuwait's biggest attractions.

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.[228][227] With a capital cost of more than US$1 billion, the project is one of the largest cultural investments in the world.[228] The Kuwait National Cultural District is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network.[438] Al Shaheed Park is the largest green roof project ever undertaken in the Arab world.[439] The annual "Hala Febrayer" festival attracts many tourists from neighboring GCC countries,[440] and includes a variety of events including music concerts, parades, and carnivals.[440][441][442] The festival is a month-long commemoration of the liberation of Kuwait, and runs from 1 to 28 February. Liberation Day itself is celebrated on 26 February.[443]

Transport

Kuwait has an extensive and modern network of highways. Roadways extended 5,749 km (3,572 mi), of which 4,887 km (3,037 mi) is paved. There are more than two million passenger cars, and 500,000 commercial taxis, buses, and trucks in use. On major highways the maximum speed is 120 km/h (75 mph). Since there is no railway system in the country, most people travel by automobiles.

 
A highway in Kuwait City.

The country's public transportation network consists almost entirely of bus routes. The state owned Kuwait Public Transportation Company was established in 1962. It runs local bus routes across Kuwait as well as longer distance services to other Gulf states. The main private bus company is CityBus, which operates about 20 routes across the country. Another private bus company, Kuwait Gulf Link Public Transport Services, was started in 2006. It runs local bus routes across Kuwait and longer distance services to neighbouring Arab countries.

There are two airports in Kuwait. Kuwait International Airport serves as the principal hub for international air travel. State-owned Kuwait Airways is the largest airline in the country. 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. In 2004, the first private airline of Kuwait, Jazeera Airways, was launched. In 2005, the second private airline, Wataniya Airways was founded.

Kuwait has one of the largest shipping industries in the region. The Kuwait Ports Public Authority manages and operates ports across Kuwait. The country's principal commercial seaports are Shuwaikh and Shuaiba, which handled combined cargo of 753,334 TEU in 2006.[444] Mina Al-Ahmadi is the largest port in the country. Mubarak Al Kabeer Port in Bubiyan Island is currently under construction. The port is expected to handle 2 million TEU when operations start.

Demographics

 
Kuwaiti youth celebrating Kuwait's independence and liberation, 2011.

Kuwait's 2018 population was 4.6 million people, of which 1.8 million were Kuwaitis, 800,000  are other Arabs, 1.6 million Asian expatriates,[445] and 47,227 Africans.[446]

Ethnic groups

Expatriates in Kuwait account for around 60% of Kuwait's total population. At the end of December 2018, 57.65% of Kuwait's total population were Arabs (including Arab expats).[445] Indians and Egyptians are the largest expat communities respectively.[447]

Religion

Kuwait's official state religion is Maliki Sunni Islam. The Al Sabah ruling family including the Emir, adhere to the Maliki madhhab of Sunni Islam. 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.[448][449] The country includes a native Christian community, estimated to be composed of between 259 and 400 Christian Kuwaiti citizens.[450] Kuwait is the only GCC country besides Bahrain to have a local Christian population who hold citizenship. There is also a small number of Kuwaiti citizens who follow the Baháʼí Faith.[451][452] Kuwait also has a large community of expatriate Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs.[451]

Languages

Kuwait's official language is Modern Standard Arabic, but its everyday usage is limited to journalism and education. Kuwaiti Arabic is the variant of Arabic used in everyday life.[453] English is widely understood and often used as a business language. Besides English, French is taught as a third language for the students of the humanities at schools, but for two years only. Kuwaiti Arabic is a variant of Gulf Arabic, sharing similarities with the dialects of neighboring coastal areas in Eastern Arabia.[454] 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.[455]

Due to historical immigration, Kuwaiti Persian is used among Ajam Kuwaitis.[456][457] The Iranian sub-dialects of Larestani, Khonji, Bastaki and Gerashi also influenced the vocabulary of Kuwaiti Arabic.[458] Most Shia Kuwaiti citizens are of Iranian ancestry.[459][460][461][462][463][464]

Culture

Kuwaiti popular culture, in the form of theatre, radio, music, and television soap opera, flourishes and is even exported to neighboring states.[22][465] Within the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, the culture of Kuwait is the closest to the culture of Bahrain; this is evident in the close association between the two states in theatrical productions and soap operas.[466]

Performing arts

 
A theatrical play titled "Fateh Masr" at Al Mubarikya school in the 1940s.

Kuwait has the oldest performing arts industry in the Arabian Peninsula.[467] 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] Kuwait is the main production centre of the Gulf television drama and comedy scene.[469] Most Gulf television drama and comedy productions are filmed in Kuwait.[469][471][472] Kuwaiti soap operas are the most-watched soap operas from the Gulf region.[468][473][474] Soap operas are most popular during the time of Ramadan, when families gather to break their fast.[475] Although usually performed in the Kuwaiti dialect, they have been shown with success as far away as Tunisia.[476] Kuwait is frequently dubbed the "Hollywood of the Gulf" due to the popularity of its television soap operas and theatre.[477][478]

Kuwait is the main centre of scenographic and performing arts education in the GCC region.[479][480] Many famous Middle Eastern actors and singers attribute their success to training in Kuwait.[481] The Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts (HIDA) provides higher education in theatrical arts.[480] The institute has several divisions and attracts theatrical students from all over the GCC region. Many actors have graduated from the institute, such as Souad Abdullah, Mohammed Khalifa, Mansour Al-Mansour, along with a number of prominent critics such as Ismail Fahd Ismail.

Kuwait is known for its home-grown tradition of theatre.[482][483][484] Kuwait is the only country in the Gulf Arab region with a theatrical tradition.[482] The theatrical movement in Kuwait constitutes a major part of the country's cultural life.[485] Theatrical activities in Kuwait date back to the 1920s when the first spoken dramas were released.[486] Theatre activities are still popular today.[485]

Theatre in Kuwait is subsidized by the government, previously by the Ministry of Social Affairs and now by the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters (NCCAL).[487] Every urban district has a public theatre.[488] The public theatre in Salmiya is named after actor Abdulhussain Abdulredha. The annual Kuwait Theater Festival is the largest theatrical arts festival in Kuwait.

Kuwait is the birthplace of various popular musical genres, such as sawt and fijiri.[489][490] Traditional Kuwaiti music is a reflection of the country's seafaring heritage,[491] which was influenced by many diverse cultures.[492][493][489] Kuwait is widely considered the centre of traditional music in the GCC region.[489] Kuwaiti music has considerably influenced the music culture in other GCC countries.[494][490] Kuwait pioneered contemporary Khaliji music.[495][496][497] Kuwaitis were the first commercial recording artists in the Gulf region.[495][496][497] The first known Kuwaiti recordings were made between 1912 and 1915.[498] Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity pioneered the Kuwaiti sawt music genre and wrote over 650 songs, many of which are considered traditional and still played daily on radio stations both in Kuwait and the rest of the Arab world.[490][499][500][501][502][503]

Kuwait is home to various music festivals, including the International Music Festival hosted by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL).[504][505] The Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre contains the largest opera house in the Middle East.[506] Kuwait has several academic institutions specializing in university-level music education.[507][508] The Higher Institute of Musical Arts was established by the government to provide bachelor's degrees in music.[509][507][508] In addition, the College of Basic Education offers bachelor's degrees in music education.[509][507][508] The Institute of Musical Studies offers music education qualifications equivalent to secondary school.[509][508][507]

Kuwait has a reputation for being the central music influence of the GCC countries.[510] Over the last decade of satellite television stations, many Kuwaiti musicians have become household names in other Arab countries. For example, Bashar Al Shatty became famous due to Star Academy. Contemporary Kuwaiti music is popular throughout the Arab world. Nawal El Kuwaiti, Nabeel Shoail and Abdallah Al Rowaished are the most popular contemporary performers.[511]

Visual arts

 
Traditional Kuwaiti wedding dress in the 1970s.

Kuwait has the oldest modern arts movement in the Arabian Peninsula.[512][513][514] Beginning in 1936, Kuwait was the first Gulf Arab country to grant scholarships in the arts.[512] The Kuwaiti artist Mojeb al-Dousari was the earliest recognized visual artist in the Gulf Arab region.[515] He is regarded as the founder of portrait art in the region.[516] The Sultan Gallery was the first professional Arab art gallery in the Gulf.[517][518]

Kuwait is home to more than 30 art galleries.[519][520] In recent years, Kuwait's contemporary art scene has boomed.[521][522][523] Khalifa Al-Qattan was the first artist to hold a solo exhibition in Kuwait. He founded a new art theory in the early 1960s known as "circulism".[524][525] Other notable Kuwaiti artists include Sami Mohammad, Thuraya Al-Baqsami and Suzan Bushnaq.

The government organizes various arts festivals, including the Al Qurain Cultural Festival and Formative Arts Festival.[526][527][528] The Kuwait International Biennial was inaugurated in 1967,[529] more than 20 Arab and foreign countries have participated in the biennial.[529] Prominent participants include Layla Al-Attar. In 2004, the Al Kharafi Biennial for Contemporary Arab Art was inaugurated.

Cuisine

Kuwaiti cuisine is a fusion of Arabian, Iranian, and Mesopotamian cuisines. Kuwaiti cuisine is part of the Eastern Arabian cuisine. A prominent dish in Kuwaiti cuisine is machboos, a rice-based dish usually prepared with basmati rice seasoned with spices, and chicken or mutton.

Seafood is a significant part of the Kuwaiti diet, especially fish.[530] Mutabbaq samak is a national dish in Kuwait. Other local favourites are hamour (grouper), which is typically served grilled, fried, or with biryani rice because of its texture and taste; safi (rabbitfish); maid (mulletfish); and sobaity (sea bream).

Kuwait's traditional flatbread is called Iranian khubz. It is a large flatbread baked in a special oven and it is often topped with sesame seeds. Numerous local bakeries dot the country; the bakers are mainly Iranians (hence the name of the bread, "Iranian khubuz"). Bread is often served with mahyawa fish sauce.

Museums

The new Kuwait National Cultural District (KNCD) consists of various cultural venues including Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre, Al Shaheed Park, and Al Salam Palace.[228][227] With a capital cost of more than US$1 billion, it is one of the largest cultural districts in the world.[228] The Abdullah Salem Cultural Centre is the largest museum complex in the Middle East.[532][533] The Kuwait National Cultural District is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network.[438]

Sadu House is among Kuwait's most important cultural institutions. Bait Al-Othman is the largest museum specializing in Kuwait's history. The Scientific Center is one of the largest science museums in the Middle East. The Museum of Modern Art showcases the history of modern art in Kuwait and the region.[534] The Kuwait Maritime Museum presents the country's maritime heritage in the pre-oil era. Several traditional Kuwaiti dhow ships are open to the public, such as Fateh Al-Khayr and Al-Hashemi-II which entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest wooden dhow ever built.[535][536] The Historical, Vintage, and Classical Cars Museum displays vintage cars from Kuwait's motoring heritage. The National Museum, established in 1983, has been described as "underused and overlooked".[537]

Several Kuwaiti museums are devoted to Islamic art, most notably the Tareq Rajab Museums and Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah cultural centres.[531][538][539][540] The Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah cultural centres include education wings, conservation labs, and research libraries.[540][541] There are several art libraries in Kuwait.[542][540][543][541] Khalifa Al-Qattan's Mirror House is the most popular art museum in Kuwait.[544] Many museums in Kuwait are private enterprises.[545][538] In contrast to the top-down approach in other Gulf states, museum development in Kuwait reflects a greater sense of civic identity and demonstrates the strength of civil society in Kuwait, which has produced many independent cultural enterprises.[546][538][545]

Society

Kuwaiti society is markedly more open than other Gulf Arab societies.[547] Kuwaiti citizens are ethnically diverse, consisting of both Arabs and Persians ('Ajam).[548][549][550] Kuwait stands out in the region as the most liberal in empowering women in the public sphere.[551][552][553] Kuwaiti women outnumber men in the workforce.[292] Kuwaiti political scientist Ghanim Alnajjar sees these qualities as a manifestation of Kuwaiti society as a whole, whereby in the Gulf Arab region it is "the least strict about traditions".[554]

Media

Kuwait produces more newspapers and magazines per capita than its neighbors.[555][556] The state-owned Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) is the largest media house in the country. The Ministry of Information regulates the media industry in Kuwait. Kuwait's media is annually classified as partly free in the Freedom of Press survey by Freedom House.[557] Since 2005,[558] Kuwait has frequently earned the highest ranking of all Arab countries in the annual Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.[559][560][561][562][563][564][565][566][567] In 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014, Kuwait surpassed Israel as the country with the greatest press freedom in the Middle East.[559][560][561][562][566] Kuwait is also frequently ranked as the Arab country with the greatest press freedom in Freedom House's annual Freedom of Press survey.[568][569][570][571][572][573][574]

Kuwait has 15 satellite television channels, of which four are controlled by the Ministry of Information. State-owned Kuwait Television (KTV) offered first colored broadcast in 1974 and operates five television channels. Government-funded Radio Kuwait also offers daily informative programming in several languages including Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and English on the AM and SW.

Literature

Kuwait has in recent years produced several prominent contemporary writers such as Ismail Fahd Ismail, author of over twenty novels and numerous short story collections. There is also evidence that Kuwaiti literature has long been interactive with English and French literature.[575]

Sport

 
Kuwaiti women at a local football match.

Football is the most popular sport in Kuwait. The Kuwait Football Association (KFA) is the governing body of football in Kuwait. The KFA organises the men's, women's, and futsal national teams. The Kuwaiti Premier League is the top league of Kuwaiti football, featuring eighteen teams. The Kuwait national football team have been the champions of the 1980 AFC Asian Cup, runners-up of the 1976 AFC Asian Cup, and have taken third place of the 1984 AFC Asian Cup. Kuwait has also been to one FIFA World Cup, in 1982; they drew 1–1 with Czechoslovakia before losing to France and England, failing to advance from the first round. Kuwait is home to many football clubs including Al-Arabi, Al-Fahaheel, Al-Jahra, Al-Kuwait, Al-Naser, Al-Salmiya, Al-Shabab, Al Qadsia, Al-Yarmouk, Kazma, Khaitan, Sulaibikhat, Sahel, and Tadamon. The biggest football rivalry in Kuwait is between Al-Arabi and Al Qadsia.

Basketball is one of the country's most popular sports. The Kuwait national basketball team is governed by the Kuwait Basketball Association (KBA). Kuwait made its international debut in 1959. The national team has been to the FIBA Asian Championship in basketball eleven times. The Kuwaiti Division I Basketball League is the highest professional basketball league in Kuwait. Cricket in Kuwait is governed by the Kuwait Cricket Association. Other growing sports include rugby union. Handball is widely considered to be the national icon of Kuwait, although football is more popular among the overall population.

Ice hockey in Kuwait is governed by the Kuwait Ice Hockey Association. Kuwait first joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1985, but was expelled in 1992 due to a lack of ice hockey activity.[576] Kuwait was re-admitted into the IIHF in May 2009.[577] In 2015, Kuwait won the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia.[578][579]

In February 2020, Kuwait held for the first time a leg of the UIM Aquabike World Championship in front of Marina Beach City.[580]

In May 2022, Kuwait hosted the Third Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Games at the 360 Marina. The event featured 16 different sports, including volleyball, basketball, swimming, athletics, karate and judo and attracted over 1,700 male and female players.[581]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kuwait's Constitution of 1962, Reinstated in 1992" (PDF). Constitute Project. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Middle East ::KUWAIT". CIA The World Factbook. 26 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Crystal, Jill (1994). "Kuwait: Constitution". In Metz, Helen Chapin (ed.). Persian Gulf states : country studies (3rd ed.). Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 84–86. ISBN 0-8444-0793-3. OCLC 29548413.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  4. ^ "Kuwait". The World Factbook (2023 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2022". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. October 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  6. ^ "Human Development Report 2021/2022" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  7. ^ . Lexico. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Definition of Kuwait by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster. from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Kuwait". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 10 April 2015.
  10. ^ "Coastline - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov.
  11. ^ Nations, United. (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  12. ^ . Human Rights First. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d "Kuwait's humanitarian disaster Inter-generational erasure, ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Bedoon". OHCHR. 2019.
  14. ^ a b "THE BEDOONS OF KUWAIT Citizens without Citizenship". Human Rights Watch.
  15. ^ a b Sissakian, Varoujan K.; Adamo, Nasrat; Al-Ansari, Nadhir; Mukhalad, Talal; Laue, Jan (January 2020). "Sea Level Changes in the Mesopotamian Plain and Limits of the Arabian Gulf: A Critical Review". Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering. 10 (4): 88–110.
  16. ^ a b Louise Pryke (23 April 2018). "In ancient Mesopotamia, sex among the gods shook heaven and earth". The Conversation.
  17. ^ a b "Mesopotamia". History.
  18. ^ "Wise cities" in the Mediterranean? : challenges of urban sustainability. Woertz, Eckart, Ajl, Max. Barcelona. 2018. ISBN 978-84-92511-57-0. OCLC 1117436298.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ^ "Contributors". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 35 (2): 382–384. 2015. doi:10.1215/1089201x-3139815. ISSN 1089-201X.
  20. ^ "OPEC pressures Kuwait to moderate quota demand", New Straits Times, 7 June 1989
  21. ^ a b "10 Most Valuable Currencies in the World". Investopedia. 21 March 2012. from the original on 14 March 2021.
  22. ^ a b Holes, Clive (2004). Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties. Georgetown University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-58901-022-2.
  23. ^ "HDI of Kuwait is highest in the Arab world". Brazil-Arab News Agency. 2009.
  24. ^ "Kuwait ranks top among Arab states in human development". Kuwait News Agency. 2009.
  25. ^ "The Post-glacial Flooding of the Persian Gulf, animation and images". University of California, Santa Barbara.
  26. ^ a b c d e "The Archaeology of Kuwait" (PDF). Cardiff University. pp. 1–427.
  27. ^ a b c d Carter, Robert (2019). "The Mesopotamian frontier of the Arabian Neolithic: A cultural borderland of the sixth–fifth millennia BC". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 31 (1): 69–85. doi:10.1111/aae.12145.
  28. ^ Carter, Robert (25 October 2010). Maritime Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic: The Evidence from H3, As-Sabiyah, an Ubaid-Related Site in Kuwait. BRILL. ISBN 9789004163591.
  29. ^ Carter, Robert. "Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC" (PDF).
  30. ^ Carter, Robert. "Maritime Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic: The Evidence from H3, As-Sabiyah, an Ubaid-Related Site in Kuwait".
  31. ^ "How Kuwaitis lived more than 8,000 years ago". Kuwait Times. 25 November 2014.
  32. ^ Carter, Robert (2002). "Ubaid-period boat remains from As-Sabiyah: excavations by the British Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 32: 13–30. JSTOR 41223721.
  33. ^ Carter, Robert; Philip, Graham. "Beyond the Ubaid: Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East" (PDF).
  34. ^ "PAM 22". pcma.uw.edu.pl.
  35. ^ Carter, Robert (2011). "The Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf". Archaeology International. 24 (3): 44. doi:10.5334/ai.0613.
  36. ^ Weekes, Richard (31 March 2001). "Secrets of world's oldest boat are discovered in Kuwait sands". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  37. ^ a b c "Failaka Island - Silk Roads Programme". UNESCO.
  38. ^ a b c "Traders from Ur?". Archaeology Magazine. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  39. ^ a b c d "Kuwait's archaeological sites reflect human history & civilizations (2:50 – 3:02)". Ministry of Interior News. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021.
  40. ^ Glassner, Jean-Jacques; Herron, Donald M. (1990). The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer. Jean-Jacques Glassner. p. 7. ISBN 9780801873898.
  41. ^ Nyrop, Richard F. (2008). Area Handbook for the Persian Gulf States. Richard F. Nyrop. p. 11. ISBN 9781434462107. From about 4000 to 2000 B.C. the civilization of Dilmun dominated 250 miles of the eastern coast of Arabia from present-day Kuwait to Bahrain and extended sixty miles into the interior to the oasis of Hufuf (see fig. 2).
  42. ^ a b Calvet, Yves (1989). "Failaka and the Northern Part of Dilmun". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 19: 5–11. JSTOR 41223078.
  43. ^ a b Connan, Jacques; Carter, Robert (2007). "A geochemical study of bituminous mixtures from Failaka and Umm an-Namel (Kuwait), from the Early Dilmun to the Early Islamic period". Jacques Connan, Robert Carter. 18 (2): 139–181. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0471.2007.00283.x.
  44. ^ Jesper Eidema, Flemming Højlund (1993). "Trade or diplomacy? Assyria and Dilmun in the eighteenth century BC". World Archaeology. 24 (3): 441–448. doi:10.1080/00438243.1993.9980218.
  45. ^ a b c "Sa'ad and Sae'ed Area in Failaka Island". UNESCO. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  46. ^ Potts, Daniel T.. Mesopotamian civilization: the material foundations. 1997
  47. ^ a b Potts, D.T. (2009). "Potts 2009 – The archaeology and early history of the Persian Gulf". p. 35.
  48. ^ Tétreault, Mary Ann. "Failaka Island: Unearthing the Past in Kuwait". Middle East Institute. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  49. ^ "Brill's New Pauly: encyclopedia of the ancient world". 2007. p. 212.
  50. ^ Ray, Himanshu Prabha; Ray (2003). The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia. Himanshu Prabha Ray. p. 101. ISBN 9780521011099.
  51. ^ a b Briant, Pierre (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Pierre Briant. p. 761. ISBN 9781575061207.
  52. ^ a b Bryce, Trevor (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. Trevor Bryce. p. 198. ISBN 9781134159086.
  53. ^ Bonnéric, Julie (2021). "Guest editors' foreword". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 32: 1–5. doi:10.1111/aae.12195. S2CID 243182467.
  54. ^ a b Andreas P. Parpas. "HELLENISTIC IKAROS-FAILAKA" (PDF). p. 5.
  55. ^ Ralph Shaw (1976). Kuwait. p. 10. ISBN 9780333212479.
  56. ^ Limited, Walden Publishing (1980). Middle East Annual Review. p. 241. ISBN 9780904439106.
  57. ^ Kilner, Peter; Wallace, Jonathan (1979). The Gulf Handbook - Volume 3. p. 344. ISBN 9780900751127.
  58. ^ Jalālzaʼī, Mūsá Ḵh̲ān (1991). K̲h̲alīj aur bainulaqvāmī siyāsat. p. 34.
  59. ^ a b c . Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  60. ^ Makharadze, Zurab; Kvirkvelia, Guram; Murvanidze, Bidzina; Chkhvimiani, Jimsher; Ad Duweish, Sultan; Al Mutairi, Hamed; Lordkipanidze, David (2017). "Kuwait-Georgian Archaeological Mission – Archaeological Investigations on the Island of Failaka in 2011–2017" (PDF). Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. 11 (4): 178.
  61. ^ J. Hansamans, Charax and the Karkhen, Iranica Antiquitua 7 (1967) page 21-58
  62. ^ George Fadlo Hourani, John Carswell, Arab Seafaring: In the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times Princeton University Press, page 131
  63. ^ a b c d Andreas P. Parpas (2016). Naval and Maritime Activities of Alexander the Great in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf. pp. 62–117.
  64. ^ a b c d Hermann Gasche, ed. (2004). The Persian Gulf shorelines and the Karkheh, Karun and Jarrahi Rivers: A Geo-Archaeological Approach. pp. 19–54.
  65. ^ Andreas P. Parpas (2016). The Hellenistic Gulf: Greek Naval Presence in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf (324-64 B.C.). p. 79.
  66. ^ "Travel - Peter Harrington London" (PDF). Peter Harrington. 2017. p. 4.
  67. ^ J. Theodore Bent (January 1890). "The Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. JSTOR. 12 (1): 13. doi:10.2307/1801121. JSTOR 1801121.
  68. ^ Farrokh, Kaveh (2007). Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. p. 124. ISBN 9781846031083. With Babylon and Seleucia secured, Mehrdad turned to Charax in southern Mesopotamia (modern south Iraq and Kuwait).
  69. ^ Reade, Julian, ed. (1996). Indian Ocean In Antiquity. p. 275. ISBN 9781136155314.
  70. ^ "Hellenism in the East" (PDF). Amelie Kuhrt, Susan Sherwin-White. 1987. To the south of Characene, on Failaka, the north wall of the fort was pushed forward, before occupation ceased around 100 BC.
  71. ^ Gregoratti, Leonardo. "A Parthian Harbour in the Gulf: the Characene". p. 216.
  72. ^ Hill, Bennett D.; Beck, Roger B.; Clare Haru Crowston (2008). (PDF). p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Centered in the fertile Tigris- Euphrates Valley, but with access to the Persian Gulf and extending south to Meshan (modern Kuwait), the Sassanid Empire's economic prosperity rested on agriculture; its location also proved well suited for commerce.
  73. ^ Falk, Avner (1996). A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. p. 330. ISBN 9780838636602. In 224 he defeated the Parthian army of Ardavan Shah (Artabanus V), taking Isfahan, Kerman, Elam (Elymais) and Meshan (Mesene, Spasinu Charax, or Characene).
  74. ^ Cohen, Abraham (1980). Ancient Jewish Proverbs. ISBN 9781465526786. The large and small measures roll down and reach Sheol; from Sheol they proceed to Tadmor (Palmyra), from Tadmor to Meshan (Mesene), and from Meshan to Harpanya (Hipparenum).
  75. ^ a b Gachet, J. (1998). "Akkaz (Kuwait), a Site of the Partho-Sasanian Period. A preliminary report on three campaigns of excavation (1993–1996)". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 28: 69–79. JSTOR 41223614.
  76. ^ "Tell Akkaz in Kuwait.", The Journal of the American Oriental Society
  77. ^ (PDF). p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2013.
  78. ^ Bonnéric, Julie (2021). "A consideration on the interest of a pottery typology adapted to the late Sasanian and early Islamic monastery at al-Qusur (Kuwait)". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 32: 70–82. doi:10.1111/aae.12190. S2CID 234836940.
  79. ^ a b Reinink-Smith, Linda; Carter, Robert (2022). "Late Holocene development of Bubiyan Island, Kuwait". Quaternary Research. 109: 16–38. Bibcode:2022QuRes.109...16R. doi:10.1017/qua.2022.3. S2CID 248250022.
  80. ^ a b "SCIENCE WATCH; Signs of Ancient River". The New York Times. 30 March 1993.
  81. ^ a b
  82. ^ a b James K. Hoffmeier, The Archaeology of the Bible, Lion Hudson: Oxford, England, 34-35
  83. ^ Carol A. Hill, The Garden of Eden: A Modern Landscape.
  84. ^ a b Sauer, James A. (July–August 1996). "The River Runs Dry: Creation Story Preserves Historical Memory". Biblical Archaeology Review. Vol. 22, no. 4. Biblical Archaeology Society. pp. 52–54, 57, 64. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  85. ^ Farouk El-Baz, "A river in the desert", Discover, July 1993.
  86. ^ Ray, Kurt (2003). A Historical Atlas of Kuwait. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. pp. 10. ISBN 9780823939817.
  87. ^ a b c Dipiazza, Francesca Davis (2008). Kuwait in Pictures. Francesca Davis DiPiazza. pp. 20–21. ISBN 9780822565895.
  88. ^ Ulrich, Brian. "Kāzimah remembered: historical traditions of an early Islamic settlement by Kuwait Bay". British Museum, Seminar for Arabian Studies.
  89. ^ Kennet, Derek. "Investigating an Early Islamic Landscape on Kuwait Bay: the archaeology of historical Kadhima". Durham University.
  90. ^ Maguer-Gillon, Sterenn Le; Ulrich, Brian; Kennet, Derek. Kadhima: Kuwait in the early centuries of Islam. academia.edu.
  91. ^ "The Soft stone from Kadhima: evidence for trade connections and domestic activities". Kuwait NCCAL, Durham University.
  92. ^ a b c Ulrich, Brian (January 2013). "From Iraq to the Hijaz in the Early Islamic Period: History and Archaeology of the Basran Hajj Road and the Way(s) through Kuwait". The Hajj: Collected Essays, ed. Venetia Porter and Liana Saif.
  93. ^ a b Kennet, Derek; Blair, Andrew; Ulrich, Brian; Al-Duwīsh, Sultan M. (2011). "The Kadhima Project: investigating an Early Islamic settlement and landscape on Kuwait Bay". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. jstor.org. 41: 161–172. JSTOR 41622130.
  94. ^ "Kāzimah". academia.edu.
  95. ^ Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volumes 9–12. 1979. p. 53. Although the town of al-Hira might have been too far northward to be considered a part of Eastern Arabia it is dealt with here as such because the kingdom of al- Hira controlled Kazima (Kuwait).
  96. ^ . SOAS. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  97. ^ "Culture in rehabilitation: from competency to proficiency". Jeffrey L. Crabtree, Abdul Matin Royeen. 2006. p. 194. During the early Islamic period, Kazima had become a very famous fertile area and served as a trading stations for travelers in the region.
  98. ^ . Durham University. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  99. ^ a b "Farazdaq center lauds Info. Min. care for youth". Kuwait News Agency. 22 May 2014.
  100. ^ a b c d e "Hidden Christian Community". Archaeology Magazine. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  101. ^ a b "Christianity in the Arab-Persian Gulf: an ancient but still obscure history", Julie Bonnéric
  102. ^ Vincent Bernard and Jean Francois Salles, "Discovery of a Christian Church at Al-Qusur, Failaka (Kuwait)," Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 21 (1991), 7–21. Vincent Bernard, Olivier Callot and Jean Francois Salles, "L'eglise d'al-Qousour Failaka, Etat de Koweit," Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 2 (1991): 145–181.
  103. ^ Yves Calvet, "Monuments paléo-chrétiens à Koweit et dans la région du Golfe," Symposium Syriacum, Uppsala University, Department of Asian and African Languages, 11–14 August 1996, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256 (Rome, 1998), 671–673.
  104. ^ "Kuwait: Prosperity from a Sea of Oil". G. Aloun Klaum. 1980. p. 30.
  105. ^ Gibb, Sir H. A. R. (1980). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Sir H. A. R. Gibb. p. 572. ISBN 9004064710.
  106. ^ a b Casey, Michael (2007). The history of Kuwait – Greenwood histories of modern nations. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0313340734.
  107. ^ Al-Jassar, Mohammad Khalid A. (May 2009). Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya (PhD thesis). The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-109-22934-9. Retrieved 27 May 2017.[dead link]
  108. ^ a b "'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [1001] (1156/1782)". qdl.qa. 30 September 2014. p. 1000. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  109. ^ a b Bell, Gawain, Sir (1983). Shadows on the Sand: The Memoirs of Sir Gawain Bell. C. Hurst. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-905838-92-2.
  110. ^ "ʻAlam-i Nisvāṉ". University of Karachi. 1995. p. 18. from the original on 24 February 2018. Kuwait became an important trading port for import and export of goods from India, Africa and Arabia.
  111. ^ a b Al-Jassar, Mohammad Khalid A. (May 2009). Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya (PhD thesis). The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. p. 66. Retrieved 27 May 2017.[dead link]
  112. ^ a b Bennis, Phyllis; Moushabeck, Michel, eds. (1991). Beyond the Storm: A Gulf Crisis Reader. Brooklyn, New York: Olive Branch Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-940793-82-8.
  113. ^ Lauterpacht, Elihu; Greenwood, C. J.; Weller, Marc (1991). The Kuwait Crisis: Basic Documents. Cambridge international documents series, Issue 1. Cambridge, UK: Research Centre for International Law, Cambridge University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-521-46308-9.
  114. ^ Lauterpacht, E.; Greenwood, C. J.; Weller, Marc; Bethlehem, Daniel (1991). The Kuwait Crisis: Basic Documents. p. 4. ISBN 9780521463089.
  115. ^ a b Al-Jassar, Mohammad Khalid A. (May 2009). Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya (PhD thesis). The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. p. 67. Retrieved 27 May 2017.[dead link]
  116. ^ a b Abdullah, Thabit A. J. (2001). Merchants, Mamluks, and Murder: The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Basra. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-7914-4807-6.
  117. ^ a b Al-Jassar, Mohammad Khalid A. Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya (PhD thesis). The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. p. 68. Retrieved 27 May 2017.[dead link]
  118. ^ Hasan, Mohibbul (2007). Waqai-i manazil-i Rum: Tipu Sultan's mission to Constantinople. Mohibbul Hasan. p. 18. ISBN 9788187879565. For owing to Basra's misfortunes, Kuwait and Zubarah became rich.
  119. ^ Fattah, Hala Mundhir (1997). The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq, Arabia, and the Gulf, 1745–1900. Hala Mundhir Fattah. p. 114. ISBN 9780791431139.
  120. ^ The impact of economic activities on the social and political structures of Kuwait (1896–1946) (PDF). p. 108.
  121. ^ Donaldson, Neil (2008). The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia and the Gulf. Neil Donaldson. p. 93. ISBN 9781409209423.
  122. ^ a b c Mary Bruins Allison (1994). Doctor Mary in Arabia: Memoirs. University of Texas Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780292704565.
  123. ^ ́Goston, Ga ́bor A.; Masters, Bruce Alan (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. p. 321. ISBN 9781438110257.
  124. ^ Agius, Dionisius A. (2012). Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman: People of the Dhow. Dionisius A. Agius. p. 48. ISBN 9781136201820.
  125. ^ a b Fattah, Hala Mundhir (1997). The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq, Arabia, and the Gulf, 1745–1900. Hala Mundhir Fattah. p. 181. ISBN 9780791431139.
  126. ^ Potter, L. (2009). The Persian Gulf in History. Lawrence G. Potter. p. 272. ISBN 9780230618459.
  127. ^ . H. C. Armstrong. 1905. pp. 18–19. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021. Part II Chapter VI
  128. ^ Broeze, Frank, ed. (1997). Kuwait before Oil: The Dynamics and Morphology of an Arab Port City (Gateways of Asia: Port Cities of Asia in the 13th–20th Centuries). ISBN 9781136168956.
  129. ^ Busch, 337.
  130. ^ a b c d e f Crystal, Jill (1995). Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar. Jill Crystal. p. 37. ISBN 9780521466356.
  131. ^ a b c Mary Ann Tétreault (1995). The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the Economics of the New World Order. pp. 2–3. ISBN 9780899305103.
  132. ^ Lea, David (2001). A Political Chronology of the Middle East. p. 142. ISBN 9781857431155.
  133. ^ a b Scudder, Lewis R. (1998). The Arabian Mission's Story: In Search of Abraham's Other Son. p. 104. ISBN 9780802846167.
  134. ^ a b Toth, Anthony B. (2005). "Losses in the Saudi and Iraqi Struggles over Kuwait's Frontiers, 1921–1943". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 32 (2): 145–67. doi:10.1080/13530190500281424. JSTOR 30037690. S2CID 154636834.
  135. ^ "Global Art Forum – 26:12–28:12". Sulayman Al-Bassam. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021.
  136. ^ Casey, Michael S. (2007). The History of Kuwait. pp. 54–55. ISBN 9780313340734.
  137. ^ a b Khalif, Hussein. Tareekh Al Kuwait Al Siyasi. p. 221.
  138. ^ a b c d e f Al-Jassar, Mohammad Khalid A. (May 2009). Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya (PhD thesis). The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. p. 80. Retrieved 27 May 2017.[dead link]
  139. ^ a b c d e Casey, Michael S. (2007). The History of Kuwait. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-313-34073-4.
  140. ^ a b c d e f g h "Mechanisms of Western Domination: A Short History of Iraq and Kuwait", California State University, Northridge
  141. ^ a b Batatu, Hanna 1978. "The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study of Iraq's Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of its Communists, Ba'athists and Free Officers" Princeton p. 189
  142. ^ a b c Al Sager, Noura, ed. (2014). Acquiring Modernity: Kuwait's Modern Era Between Memory and Forgetting. National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. p. 7. ISBN 9789990604238.
  143. ^ a b Al-Nakib, Farah (2014). Al-Nakib, Farah (ed.). "Kuwait's Modernity Between Memory and Forgetting". Academia.edu: 7. from the original on 6 August 2017.
  144. ^ a b Farid, Alia (2014). . aliafarid.net. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  145. ^ Gonzales, Desi (November–December 2014). . Art Papers. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  146. ^ Tsourapas, Gerasimos (2 July 2016). (PDF). British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 43 (3): 324–341. doi:10.1080/13530194.2015.1102708. ISSN 1353-0194. S2CID 159943632. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  147. ^ Bourisly, Nibal K.; Al-hajji, Maher N. (2004). "Kuwait's National Day: Four Decades of Transformed Celebrations". In Fuller, Linda K. (ed.). National Days/national Ways: Historical, Political, and Religious Celebrations Around the World. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 125–126. ISBN 9780275972707. from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  148. ^ a b James Paul & Martin Spirit; Robinson, Peter (2008). . Riots, Rebellions, Gunboats and Peacekeepers. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  149. ^ Mobley, Richard A. (2007–2008). . Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  150. ^ Helene von Bismarck, "The Kuwait Crisis of 1961 and its Consequences for Great Britain's Persian Gulf Policy", in British Scholar, vol. II, no. 1 (September 2009) pp. 75-96
  151. ^ Helene von Bismarck, "The Kuwait Crisis of 1961 and its Consequences for Great Britain's Persian Gulf Policy" British Scholar, vol. II, no. 1 (September 2009) pp. 75-96
  152. ^ "Independence for Kuwait: UK protection withdrawn" The Guardian, June 20, 1961
  153. ^ Brown, Harry (October 1994). . IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  154. ^ US diplomatic cable mentioning the incident
  155. ^ "Looking for Origins of Arab Modernism in Kuwait". Hyperallergic. from the original on 11 July 2015.
  156. ^ Al-Nakib, Farah (1 March 2014). "Towards an Urban Alternative for Kuwait: Protests and Public Participation". Built Environment. 40 (1): 101–117. doi:10.2148/benv.40.1.101.
  157. ^ a b c d . March 2013. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  158. ^ Chee Kong, Sam (1 March 2014). . Market Oracle. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  159. ^ al-Nakib, Farah (17 September 2014). "Understanding Modernity: A Review of the Kuwait Pavilion at the Venice Biennale". Jadaliyya. from the original on 29 November 2014.
  160. ^ a b Sajjad, Valiya S. . Arab Times. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. A magazine, Al Arabi, was published in 1958 in Kuwait. It was the most popular magazine in the Arab world. It came out it in all the Arabic countries, and about a quarter million copies were published every month.
  161. ^ Gunter, Barrie; Dickinson, Roger, eds. (2013). News Media in the Arab World: A Study of 10 Arab and Muslim Countries. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-4411-0239-3.
  162. ^ Sager, Abdulaziz; Koch, Christian; Tawfiq Ibrahim, Hasanain, eds. (2008). Gulf Yearbook 2006–2007. I. B. Tauris. p. 39. The Kuwaiti press has always enjoyed a level of freedom unparalleled in any other Arab country.
  163. ^ Muslim Education Quarterly. Vol. 8. Islamic Academy. 1990. p. 61. Kuwait is a primary example of a Muslim society which embraced liberal and Western attitudes throughout the sixties and seventies.
  164. ^ Rubin, Barry, ed. (2010). Guide to Islamist Movements. Vol. 1. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-7656-4138-0.
  165. ^ Wheeler, Deborah L. (2006). The Internet in the Middle East: Global Expectations And Local Imaginations. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-7914-6586-8.
  166. ^ "KUWAIT'S MARKET BAILOUT". New York Times. 18 February 1983.
  167. ^ "KUWAIT IN BAILOUT EFFORT AFTER MARKET COLLAPSES". The New York Times. 25 December 1982.
  168. ^ "KUWAIT'S BUSTLING STOCK SOUK". The New York Times. 5 April 1982.
  169. ^ "Kuwait Losses Affect Bahrain". The New York Times. 10 April 1983.
  170. ^ Bansal, Narottam P.; Singh, Jitendra P.; Ko, Song; Castro, Ricardo; Pickrell, Gary; Manjooran, Navin Jose; Nair, Mani; Singh, Gurpreet, eds. (1 July 2013). Processing and Properties of Advanced Ceramics and Composites. Vol. 240. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-118-74411-6.
  171. ^ . Acig.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  172. ^ a b Gregory, Derek (2004). The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-57718-090-6. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  173. ^ . Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  174. ^ "Iraq and Kuwait Discuss Fate of 600 Missing Since Gulf War". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 9 January 2003. from the original on 6 October 2014.
  175. ^ Hicks, Neil (1 January 1992). Kuwait: Building the Rule of Law: Human Rights in Kuwait. ISBN 9780934143493.
  176. ^ a b c "Mideast situation – Middle East Watch Report – Letter from Palestine". United Nations. 1991.
  177. ^ a b "Human Rights Watch World Report 1993 - Kuwait". Human Rights Watch. 1993.
  178. ^ a b c d "Kuwait Laws and Policies of Ethnic Discrimination, Erasure and Genocide Against The Bedoon Minority - Submission on Human Rights Protections for Minorities Recognised in the UN System". Susan Kennedy Nour al Deen. 2020.
  179. ^ a b c Susan Kennedy Nour al Deen (2018). "The Bedoun Archive: A public archive created for the northern tribes Bedouin of Kuwait". Education as Change. 22 (2). doi:10.25159/1947-9417/3435. S2CID 240259439.
  180. ^ a b "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 23 Oct 1995 - Parliament Publications". House of Commons of the United Kingdom. 23 October 1995.
  181. ^ "EASO Country of Origin Information Report Iraq Targeting of Individuals" (PDF). European Asylum Support Office. pp. 149–150.
  182. ^ Charlie Dunmore and Edith Champagne in Basra, Iraq (10 October 2019). "Citizenship hopes become reality for Iraq's Bidoon minority". UNCHR.
  183. ^ a b c d e f Helal, Ahmed (18 November 2020). "Kuwait's fiscal crisis requires bold reforms". Atlantic Council.
  184. ^ "Kuwait ranks top among Arab states in human development – UNDP report". KUNA. 2009. from the original on 12 August 2016.
  185. ^ "Human Development Index 2009" (PDF). Human Development Report. hdr.undp.org. p. 143. (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2014.
  186. ^ "Human Development Index 2007/2008" (PDF). Human Development Report. p. 233. (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2014.
  187. ^ "Human Development Index 2006" (PDF). Human Development Report. p. 283. (PDF) from the original on 10 March 2016.
  188. ^ a b "China grants Kuwait highest investment quota". Investvine. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  189. ^ a b "Kuwait highest in closing gender gap: WEF". Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  190. ^ a b "The Global Gender Gap Index 2014 – World Economic Forum". World Economic Forum. from the original on 14 April 2017.
  191. ^ a b "Global Gender Gap Index Results in 2015". World Economic Forum. from the original on 5 June 2016.
  192. ^ a b c "Kuwait: Extremism and Terrorism | Counter Extremism Project". www.counterextremism.com.
  193. ^ a b "Kuwait, ally on Syria, is also the leading funder of extremist rebels". The Washington Post.
  194. ^ a b "How our allies in Kuwait and Qatar funded Islamic State". www.telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022.
  195. ^ a b David Andrew Weinberg (16 January 2014). "New Kuwaiti Justice Minister Has Deep Extremist Ties".
  196. ^ a b William Mauldin, "U.S. Calls Qatar, Kuwait Lax Over Terror Financing", The Wall Street Journal, 23 October 2014
  197. ^ a b Pall, Zoltan. "Kuwaiti Salafism and Its Growing Influence in the Levant".
  198. ^ Mary Ann Tétreault (November 2001). "Frankenstein's Lament in Kuwait".
  199. ^ a b Dickinson, Elizabeth. "Playing with Fire: Why Private Gulf Financing for Syria's Extremist Rebels Risks Igniting Sectarian Conflict at Home".
  200. ^ Rogin, Josh (14 June 2014). "America's Allies Are Funding ISIS". The Daily Beast.
  201. ^ a b "The Terrorist Funding Disconnect with Qatar and Kuwait". The Washington Institute.
  202. ^ "تفجير مسجد الصادق رفض إلزام الحكومة تعويض المتضررين" (in Arabic). 4 September 2018.
  203. ^ "حكم نهائي يُخلي مسؤولية الحكومة الكويتية من تعويض متضرري تفجير مسجد الإمام الصادق | صحيفة الأحساء نيوز" (in Arabic). 4 September 2018.
  204. ^ "UPDATE 1-Kuwait closes 2019-2020 fiscal year with $18 bln deficit -finance ministry". Reuters. 30 August 2020.
  205. ^ "Kuwait Projects". MEED. 2021.
  206. ^ "Sea City achieves the impossible". The Worldfolio. March 2016. from the original on 20 December 2016.
  207. ^ "Tamdeen Group's US$700 million Al Khiran development to bolster Kuwait's retail and tourism growth". Tamdeen Group. from the original on 20 December 2016.
  208. ^ Heialy, Yasmin (26 June 2016). "Kuwait: Multi-billion Sea City ready in 25 years". Construction Week Online.
  209. ^ Jones, D. A.; Nithyanandan, M.; Williams, I. (4 June 2012). "Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City Kuwait: development of a sustainable man-made coastal ecosystem in a saline desert". Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management. 15: 84–92. doi:10.1080/14634988.2012.663706. S2CID 83932029.
  210. ^ "Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City - Khiran". Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research.
  211. ^ International Monetary Fund (1 January 2000). "Overall Fiscal Balance for General Government for Kuwait". FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  212. ^ "Cash-strapped Kuwait struggles with paying government salaries |". AW. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  213. ^ Ismail Numan Telci, Mehmet Rakipoğlu (17 July 2021). "Hedging as a Survival Strategy for Small States: The Case of Kuwait". All Azimuth. 10 (2): 213–229. doi:10.20991/allazimuth.960945.
  214. ^ "Trade with China worth USD 19 billion". Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). 23 March 2020.
  215. ^ Chaziza, Mordechai (19 July 2020). "China's Strategic Partnership with Kuwait: New Opportunities for the Belt and Road Initiative". Contemporary Review of the Middle East. 7 (4): 501–519. doi:10.1177/2347798920940081. S2CID 225578218.
  216. ^ "Kuwait, China seek to link vision with initiative". Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). 19 November 2018.
  217. ^ a b "Foreign Trade in Figures".
  218. ^ "Kuwait's imports from China decline 13% in two months". Zawya. 23 March 2020.
  219. ^ a b "CGGC completes Kuwait Residential City infrastructure work". Zawya. 8 March 2021.
  220. ^ a b Warrier, Ranju (12 March 2021). "CGGC completes main works at Kuwait's Al Mutlaa Residential City project". Construction Week.
  221. ^ a b Dadlani, Disha (14 June 2020). "China's CGGC prioritises health at Kuwait's Al Mutlaa project". Construction Week.
  222. ^ Warrier, Ranju (26 October 2020). "CGGC delivers plots for 12,177 units at Kuwait's Al Mutlaa Project". Construction Week.
  223. ^ "Eyeing the private sector". Gulf Construction. 1 June 2021.
  224. ^ a b c d "Phase One of Kuwait's BRI-Backed US$130 Billion Silk City Opens". Hong Kong Trade Development Council. 10 June 2019.
  225. ^ a b "Sheikh Jaber Bridge to give impetus to Kuwait's 2035 vision in northern region". KUNA.
  226. ^ "The Long Bridge to "Silk City"". NASA Earth Observatory. 8 September 2019.
  227. ^ a b c "Kuwait National Cultural District".
  228. ^ a b c d e (PDF). 28 August 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 January 2018.
  229. ^ "New details emerge about Kuwait's new cultural district". Gulf Construction. 1 July 2015.
  230. ^ Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre New Kuwait.
  231. ^ a b c "RLA hailed for expertise on Kuwait development". Hospitality Net. 23 February 2021. In 2020, domestic travel and tourism spending for Kuwait reached $6.1bn, up from $1.6bn, with family tourism a rapidly-growing segment.
  232. ^ "Cash-strapped Kuwait struggles with paying government salaries". The Arab Weekly. 19 August 2020.
  233. ^ a b c Ellis, Eric (30 April 2021). "Financial markets: Is it too late for Kuwait?". Euromoney.
  234. ^ "Kuwait facing "immediate crisis" as it seeks cash to plug deficit". Arabian Business. 3 February 2021.
  235. ^ "Oil-rich Kuwait faces looming debt crisis". Al Jazeera. 24 November 2020.
  236. ^ a b "Kuwait's fractious politics undermine much-needed fiscal measures". MEI. 11 March 2021.
  237. ^ "Kuwait emir urges MPs to end conflict and help tackle liquidity crunch". The New Arab. 15 December 2020.
  238. ^ "Kuwait swears in new emir after Sheikh Sabah's death". Aljazeera. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  239. ^ "Sheikh Meshaal sworn in as Kuwait's new crown prince – Middle East". Al Jazeera. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  240. ^ MacDonald, Fiona (19 June 2021). "This $600 Billion Wealth Fund Got Caught in a Power Struggle". Bloomberg News.
  241. ^ Freer, Courtney (30 April 2021). "Political Gridlock Is Damaging the Kuwaiti Economy". World Politics Review.
  242. ^ "Kuwait Credit Rating Cut for Second Time in Two Years by S&P". Bloomberg. 16 July 2021.
  243. ^ a b c d e "Factbox: U.S. forces in Gulf region and Iraq". 8 January 2020.
  244. ^ "Bubiyan (island, Kuwait)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  245. ^
kuwait, other, uses, disambiguation, coordinates, listen, arabic, الكويت, kuwayt, gulf, arabic, pronunciation, ɪkweːt, lɪkweːt, officially, state, arabic, دولة, الكويت, dawlat, kuwayt, country, western, asia, situated, northern, edge, eastern, arabia, persian,. For other uses see Kuwait disambiguation Coordinates 29 30 N 47 45 E 29 500 N 47 750 E 29 500 47 750 Kuwait k ʊ ˈ w eɪ t listen 7 8 Arabic الكويت al Kuwayt Gulf Arabic pronunciation ɪl ɪkweːt or lɪkweːt officially the State of Kuwait Arabic دولة الكويت Dawlat al Kuwayt is a country in Western Asia It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf bordering Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south 9 Kuwait also shares maritime borders with Iran Kuwait has a coastal length of approximately 500 km 311 mi 10 Most of the country s population reside in the urban agglomeration of the capital city Kuwait City 11 As of 2022 update Kuwait has a population of 4 45 million people of which 1 45 million are Kuwaiti citizens while the remaining 3 00 million are foreign nationals from over 100 countries Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region 12 13 14 State of Kuwaitد و ل ة ال ك و ي ت Arabic Dawlat al KuwaytFlag EmblemAnthem النشيد الوطني an Nashid al Waṭani National Anthem source source track track track track Location of Kuwait green Capitaland largest cityKuwait CityOfficial languagesArabic 1 Ethnic groups 2018 2 57 8 Arabs 32 59 Kuwaiti 27 4 Arab expat40 3 Asian1 0 African0 9 OtherReligion 2013 2 74 6 Islam official 18 2 Christianity 7 2 OthersDemonym s KuwaitiGovernmentUnitary parliamentary elective semi constitutional monarchy 3 EmirNawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Crown PrinceMishal Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Prime MinisterAhmad Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah Speaker of the National AssemblyAhmed Al SadounLegislatureNational AssemblyEstablishment Sheikhdom of Kuwait1613 Independence from the Bani Khalid Emirate1752 Anglo Kuwaiti Agreement23 January 1899 Anglo Ottoman Convention29 July 1913 End of treaties with the United Kingdom19 June 1961 Admitted to the United Nations14 May 1963 Kuwait National Day25 February 1961 Kuwait Liberation Day26 February 1991Area Total17 818 km2 6 880 sq mi 152nd Water negligiblePopulation 2022 estimate4 294 621 4 137th Density200 2 km2 518 5 sq mi 62st GDP PPP 2022 estimate Total 248 113 billion 5 65th Per capita 51 528 5 30th GDP nominal 2022 estimate Total 183 576 billion 5 59th Per capita 38 123 5 26th HDI 2021 0 831 6 very high 50thCurrencyKuwaiti dinarTime zoneUTC 3 AST Date formatdd mm yyyy CE Driving siderightCalling code 965ISO 3166 codeKWInternet TLD kwWebsitewww e gov kwNominal succession within the House of Sabah EmirateHistorically most of present day Kuwait was part of ancient Mesopotamia 15 16 17 Pre oil Kuwait was a strategic trade port between Mesopotamia Persia and India Oil reserves were discovered in commercial quantities in 1938 In 1946 crude oil was exported for the first time 18 19 From 1946 to 1982 the country underwent large scale modernization largely based on income from oil production In the 1980s Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability and an economic crisis following the stock market crash In 1990 after oil production disputes with neighbouring Iraq Kuwait was invaded and later annexed into one of Iraq s governorates by Iraq under Saddam Hussein 20 The Iraqi occupation of Kuwait came to an end on February 26 1991 after military intervention by a military coalition led by the United States and various other countries Kuwait is an emirate The emir is the head of state and the Al Sabah is the ruling family which dominates the country s political system Kuwait s official state religion is Islam Kuwait is a developing country with a high income economy backed by the world s sixth largest oil reserves The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world 21 Kuwaiti popular culture in the form of theatre radio music and television soap opera is regionally influential and exported to neighboring GCC states 22 In 2009 Kuwait had the highest Human Development Index in the Arab world 23 24 Kuwait is a founding member of the GCC and is also a member of the UN AL OPEC and the OIC In July 2022 Kuwait named the emir s son as the country s new prime minister to replace caretaker premier Sheikh Sabah al Khalid who faced a combative parliament as head of cabinet in a feud hindering fiscal reform Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Antiquity 2 2 1521 1918 Founding 2 3 1919 1945 After World War I 2 4 1946 1982 State building 2 5 1982 1990 Gulf War 2 6 1991 Present Present era 3 Geography 3 1 Climate 3 2 Nature reserves 3 3 Biodiversity 3 4 Water and sanitation 4 Government and politics 4 1 Political system 4 2 Al Sabah dynasty 4 3 Foreign relations 4 4 Military 4 5 Legal system 4 6 Administrative divisions 4 7 Human rights and corruption 5 Economy 5 1 Petroleum and natural gas 5 2 Steel manufacturing 5 3 Agriculture 5 4 Finance 5 5 Health 5 6 Science and technology 5 7 Space and satellite programmes 5 8 Education 5 9 Tourism 5 10 Transport 6 Demographics 6 1 Ethnic groups 6 2 Religion 6 3 Languages 7 Culture 7 1 Performing arts 7 2 Visual arts 7 3 Cuisine 7 4 Museums 7 5 Society 7 6 Media 7 7 Literature 7 8 Sport 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External linksEtymology EditThe country s name is from the Arabic diminutive form of كوت Kut or Kout meaning fortress built near water Since 1961 the official name of the state is the State of Kuwait History EditMain article History of Kuwait Antiquity Edit Following the post glacial flooding of the Persian Gulf basin debris from the Tigris Euphrates river formed a substantial delta creating most of the land in present day Kuwait and establishing the present coastlines 25 One of the earliest evidence of human habitation in Kuwait dates back to 8000 BC where Mesolithic tools were found in Burgan 26 Historically most of present day Kuwait was part of ancient Mesopotamia 15 16 17 Ancient coins found on Failaka Island During the Ubaid period 6500 BC Kuwait was the central site of interaction between the peoples of Mesopotamia and Neolithic Eastern Arabia 27 28 29 30 31 including Bahra 1 and site H3 in Subiya 27 32 33 34 The Neolithic inhabitants of Kuwait were among the world s earliest maritime traders 35 One of the world s earliest reed boats was discovered at site H3 dating back to the Ubaid period 36 Other Neolithic sites in Kuwait are located in Khiran and Sulaibikhat 27 Mesopotamians first settled in the Kuwaiti island of Failaka in 2000 B C 37 38 Traders from the Sumerian city of Ur inhabited Failaka and ran a mercantile business 37 38 The island had many Mesopotamian style buildings typical of those found in Iraq dating from around 2000 B C 38 37 In 4000 BC until 2000 BC Kuwait was home to the Dilmun civilization 39 40 41 42 26 Dilmun included Al Shadadiya 26 Akkaz 39 Umm an Namil 39 43 and Failaka 39 42 At its peak in 2000 BC Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes 44 During the Dilmun era from ca 3000 BC Failaka was known as Agarum the land of Enzak a great god in the Dilmun civilization according to Sumerian cuneiform texts found on the island 45 As part of Dilmun Failaka became a hub for the civilization from the end of the 3rd to the middle of the 1st millennium BC 45 46 After the Dilmun civilization Failaka was inhabited by the Kassites of Mesopotamia 47 and was formally under the control of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon 47 Studies indicate traces of human settlement can be found on Failaka dating back to as early as the end of the 3rd millennium BC and extending until the 20th century AD 45 Many of the artifacts found in Falaika are linked to Mesopotamian civilizations and seem to show that Failaka was gradually drawn toward the civilization based in Antioch 48 Under Nebuchadnezzar II the bay of Kuwait was under Babylonian control 49 Cuneiform documents found in Failaka indicate the presence of Babylonians in the island s population 50 Babylonian Kings were present in Failaka during the Neo Babylonian Empire period Nabonidus had a governor in Failaka and Nebuchadnezzar II had a palace and temple in Falaika 51 52 Failaka also contained temples dedicated to the worship of Shamash the Mesopotamian sun god in the Babylonian pantheon 52 The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent Following the Fall of Babylon the bay of Kuwait came under the control of the Achaemenid Empire c 550 330 BC as the bay was repopulated after seven centuries of abandonment 53 Failaka was under the control of the Achaemenid Empire as evidenced by the archaeological discovery of Achaemenid strata 51 54 There are Aramaic inscriptions that testify Achaemenid presence 54 In 4th century BC the ancient Greeks colonized the bay of Kuwait under Alexander the Great The ancient Greeks named mainland Kuwait Larissa and Failaka was named Ikaros 55 56 57 58 The bay of Kuwait was named Hieros Kolpos 59 According to Strabo and Arrian Alexander the Great named Failaka Ikaros because it resembled the Aegean island of that name in size and shape Some elements of Greek mythology were mixed with the local cults 60 Ikaros was also the name of a prominent city situated in Failaka 61 Large Hellenistic forts and Greek temples were uncovered 62 Archaeological remains of Greek colonization were also discovered in Akkaz Umm an Namil and Subiya 26 The Seleucid Empire at its greatest extent At the time of Alexander the Great the mouth of the Euphrates River was located in northern Kuwait 63 64 The Euphrates river flowed directly into the Persian Gulf via Khor Subiya which was a river channel at the time 63 64 Failaka was located 15 kilometers from the mouth of the Euphrates river 63 64 By the first century BC the Khor Subiya river channel dried out completely 63 64 In 127 BC Kuwait was part of the Parthian Empire and the kingdom of Characene was established around Teredon in present day Kuwait 65 66 67 Characene was centered in the region encompassing southern Mesopotamia 68 Characene coins were discovered in Akkaz Umm an Namil and Failaka 69 70 A busy Parthian commercial station was situated in Kuwait 71 The earliest recorded mention of Kuwait was in 150 AD in the geographical treatise Geography by Greek scholar Ptolemy 59 Ptolemy mentioned the Bay of Kuwait as Hieros Kolpos Sacer Sinus in the Latin versions 59 In 224 AD Kuwait became part of the Sassanid Empire At the time of the Sassanid Empire Kuwait was known as Meshan 72 which was an alternative name of the kingdom of Characene 73 74 Akkaz was a Partho Sassanian site 75 the Sassanid religion s tower of silence was discovered in northern Akkaz 75 76 77 Late Sassanian settlements were discovered in Failaka 78 In Bubiyan there is archaeological evidence of Sassanian to early Islamic periods of human presence as evidenced by the recent discovery of torpedo jar pottery shards on several prominent beach ridges 79 Most of present day Kuwait is still archaeologically unexplored 27 26 According to several famous archaeologists and geologists Kuwait was likely the original location of the Pishon River which watered the mythical Garden of Eden 80 81 82 83 Juris Zarins argued that the Garden of Eden was situated at the head of the Persian Gulf present day Kuwait where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run into the sea from his research on this area using information from many different sources including LANDSAT images from space His suggestion about the Pishon River was supported by James A Sauer of the American Center of Oriental Research 84 Sauer made an argument from geology and history that Pishon River was the now defunct Kuwait River 84 With the aid of satellite photos Farouk El Baz traced the dry channel from Kuwait up the Wadi Al Batin 80 85 82 81 In 636 AD the Battle of Chains between the Sassanid Empire and Rashidun Caliphate was fought in Kuwait 86 87 At the time Kuwait was under the control of the Sassanid Empire The Battle of Chains was the first battle of the Rashidun Caliphate in which the Muslim army sought to extend its frontiers As a result of Rashidun victory in 636 AD the bay of Kuwait was home to the city of Kazma also known as Kadhima or Kazimah in the early Islamic era 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 Medieval Arabic sources contain multiple references to the bay of Kuwait in the early Islamic period 92 93 94 According to medieval sources the city functioned as a trade port and resting place for pilgrims on their way from Iraq to Hejaz The city was controlled by the kingdom of Al Hirah in Iraq 92 95 96 In the early Islamic period the bay of Kuwait was known for being a fertile area 87 97 98 The Kuwaiti city of Kazma was also a stop for caravans coming from Persia and Mesopotamia en route to the Arabian Peninsula The poet Al Farazdaq recognized as one of the greatest classical poets of the Arabs 99 was born in the Kuwaiti city of Kazma 99 Christian Nestorian settlements flourished across the bay of Kuwait from the 5th century until the 9th century 100 101 Excavations have revealed several farms villages and two large churches dating from the 5th and 6th century 100 Archaeologists are currently excavating nearby sites to understand the extent of the settlements that flourished in the eighth and ninth centuries A D 100 An old island tradition is that a community grew up around a Christian mystic and hermit 100 The small farms and villages were eventually abandoned 100 Remains of Byzantine era Nestorian churches were found in Akkaz and Al Qusur 101 43 Pottery at the site can be dated from as early as the first half of the 7th century through the 9th century 102 103 1521 1918 Founding Edit See also Sheikhdom of Kuwait Marine Museum in Kuwait City Demonstrates the founding of Kuwait as a sea port for merchants In 1521 Kuwait was under Portuguese control 104 In the late 16th century the Portuguese built a defensive settlement in Kuwait 105 In 1613 Kuwait City was founded as a fishing village Administratively it was a sheikhdom ruled by local sheikhs from Bani Khalid clan 106 In 1682 or 1716 the Bani Utbah settled in Kuwait City which at this time was still inhabited by fishermen and primarily functioned as a fishing village under Bani Khalid control 107 108 Sometime after the death of the Bani Khalid s leader Barrak Bin Urair and the fall of the Bani Khalid Emirate the Utub were able to wrest control of Kuwait as a result of successive matrimonial alliances 108 In the early eighteenth century Kuwait prospered as a maritime port city and rapidly became the principal commercial center for the transit of goods between Baghdad India Muscat and Arabian Peninsula 109 110 By the mid 1700s Kuwait had established itself as the major trading route from the Persian Gulf to Aleppo 111 During the Persian siege of Basra in 1775 79 Iraqi merchants took refuge in Kuwait and were partly instrumental in the expansion of Kuwait s boat building and trading activities 112 As a result Kuwait s maritime commerce boomed 112 as the Indian trade routes with Baghdad Aleppo Smyrna and Constantinople were diverted to Kuwait during this time 111 113 114 The East India Company was diverted to Kuwait in 1792 115 The East India Company secured the sea routes between Kuwait India and the east coasts of Africa 115 After the Persians withdrew from Basra in 1779 Kuwait continued to attract trade away from Basra 116 The flight of many of Basra s leading merchants to Kuwait continued to play a significant role in Basra s commercial stagnation well into the 1850s 116 Unofficial map of Kuwait in 1874 according to Scottish geographer and cartographer Alexander Keith Johnston According to Kuwaiti authors the instability in Basra helped foster economic prosperity in Kuwait 117 118 In the late 18th century Kuwait was a haven for Basra merchants fleeing Ottoman persecution 119 Kuwait was the center of boat building in the Persian Gulf 120 its ships renowned throughout the Indian Ocean 121 122 Kuwaitis also developed a reputation as the best sailors in the Persian Gulf 109 123 124 In the 19th century Kuwait became significant in the horse trade 125 with regular shipments in sailing vessels 125 In the mid 19th century it was estimated that Kuwait exported an average of 800 horses to India annually 117 In the 1890s threatened by the Ottoman Empire ruler Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah signed an agreement with the British government in India subsequently known as the Anglo Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899 making Kuwait a British protectorate This gave Britain exclusive access and trade with Kuwait while denying Ottoman provinces to the north a port on the Persian Gulf The Sheikhdom of Kuwait remained a British protectorate until 1961 106 During the reign of Mubarak Kuwait was dubbed the Marseilles of the Persian Gulf because its economic vitality attracted a large variety of people 126 127 The population was cosmopolitan ethnically and religiously diverse including Arabs Persians Africans Jews and Armenians Kuwait was known for its religious tolerance 128 The Basra Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in 1897 After the Anglo Ottoman Convention of 1913 Kuwait was established as an autonomous kaza or district of the Ottoman Empire and a de facto protectorate of Great Britain 129 After the Anglo Ottoman Convention of 1913 Kuwait was established as an autonomous kaza or district of the Ottoman Empire and a de facto protectorate of Great Britain In the first decades of the twentieth century Kuwait had a well established elite wealthy trading families linked by marriage and shared economic interests long settled and urban most claiming descent from the original 30 Bani Utubi families 130 The wealthiest were merchants who acquired their wealth from long distance commerce shipbuilding and pearling 130 They were a cosmopolitan elite who traveled extensively to India Africa and Europe and educated their sons abroad more than other Gulf Arab elite 130 Western visitors noted the Kuwaiti elite used European office systems typewriters and followed European culture with curiosity 130 The richest were involved in general trade 130 The Kuwaiti merchant families of Al Ghanim and Al Hamad were estimated to be worth millions before the 1940s 130 In the early 20th century Kuwait immensely declined in regional economic importance 122 mainly due to many trade blockades and the world economic depression 131 Before Mary Bruins Allison visited Kuwait in 1934 Kuwait lost its prominence in long distance trade 122 During World War I the British Empire imposed a trade blockade against Kuwait because Kuwait s ruler at the time Salim Al Mubarak Al Sabah supported the Ottoman Empire 131 132 133 The British economic blockade heavily damaged Kuwait s economy 133 1919 1945 After World War I Edit In 1919 Sheikh Salim Al Mubarak Al Sabah intended to build a commercial city in the south of Kuwait This caused a diplomatic crisis with Najd but Britain intervened discouraging Sheikh Salim In 1920 an attempt by the Ikhwan to build a stronghold in southern Kuwait led to the Battle of Hamdh The Battle of Hamdh involved 2 000 Ikhwan fighters against 100 Kuwaiti cavalrymen and 200 Kuwaiti infantrymen The battle lasted for six days and resulted in heavy but unknown casualties on both sides resulting in the victory of the Ikhwan forces and leading to the battle of Jahra around the Kuwait Red Fort The Battle of Jahra happened as the result of the Battle of Hamdh A force of three to four thousand Ikhwan led by Faisal Al Dawish attacked the Red Fort at Al Jahra defended by fifteen hundred men The fort was besieged and the Kuwaiti position precarious had the fort fallen Kuwait would likely have been incorporated into Ibn Saud s empire 134 The Ikhwan attack repulsed for the while negotiations began between Salim and Al Dawish the latter threatened another attack if the Kuwaiti forces did not surrender The local merchant class convinced Salim to call in help from British troops who showed up with airplanes and three warships ending the attacks 134 After the Battle of Jahra Ibn Saud s warriors the Ikhwan demanded that Kuwait follows five rules evict all the Shias adopt the Ikhwan doctrine label the Turks heretics abolish smoking munkar and prostitution and destroy the American missionary hospital 135 The Kuwait Red Fort in Al Jahra The Kuwait Najd War of 1919 20 erupted in the aftermath of World War I The war occurred because Ibn Saud of Najd wanted to annex Kuwait 131 136 The sharpened conflict between Kuwait and Najd led to the death of hundreds of Kuwaitis The war resulted in sporadic border clashes throughout 1919 1920 When Percy Cox was informed of the border clashes in Kuwait he sent a letter to the Ruler of Arabistan Sheikh Khazʽal Ibn Jabir offering the Kuwaiti throne to either him or one of his heirs knowing that Khaz al would be a wiser ruler than the Al Sabah family Khaz al who considered the Al Sabah as his own family replied Do you expect me to allow the stepping down of Al Mubarak from the throne of Kuwait Do you think I can accept this 137 He then asked even so do you think that you have come to me with something new Al Mubarak s position as ruler of Kuwait means that I am the true ruler of Kuwait So there is no difference between myself and them for they are like the dearest of my children and you are aware of this Had someone else come to me with this offer I would have complained about them to you So how do you come to me with this offer when you are well aware that myself and Al Mubarak are one soul and one house what affects them affects me whether good or evil 137 Following the Kuwait Najd War in 1919 20 Ibn Saud imposed a trade blockade against Kuwait from the years 1923 until 1937 138 The goal of the Saudi economic and military attacks on Kuwait was to annex as much of Kuwait s territory as possible At the Uqair conference in 1922 the boundaries of Kuwait and Najd were set as a result of British interference Kuwait had no representative at the Uqair conference After the Uqair conference Kuwait was still subjected to a Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi raiding Celebration at Seif Palace in 1944 The Great Depression harmed Kuwait s economy starting in the late 1920s 138 International trading was one of Kuwait s main sources of income before oil 138 Kuwaiti merchants were mostly intermediary merchants 138 As a result of the decline of European demand for goods from India and Africa Kuwait s economy suffered The decline in international trade resulted in an increase in gold smuggling by Kuwaiti ships to India 138 Some Kuwaiti merchant families became rich from this smuggling 139 Kuwait s pearl industry also collapsed as a result of the worldwide economic depression 139 At its height Kuwait s pearl industry had led the world s luxury market regularly sending out between 750 and 800 ships to meet the European elite s desire for pearls 139 During the economic depression luxuries like pearls were in little demand 139 The Japanese invention of cultured pearls also contributed to the collapse of Kuwait s pearl industry 139 In 1937 Freya Stark wrote about the extent of poverty in Kuwait at the time 138 Poverty has settled in Kuwait more heavily since my last visit five years ago both by sea where the pearl trade continues to decline and by land where the blockade established by Saudi Arabia now harms the merchants Attempts by Faisal king of Iraq to build a railway to Kuwait and port facilities on the Gulf were rejected by Britain These and other similar British colonial policies made Kuwait a focus of the Arab national movement in Iraq and a symbol of Iraqi humiliation at the hands of the British 140 Throughout the 1930s Kuwaiti people opposed the British imposed separation of Kuwait from Iraq 140 In 1938 the Free Kuwaiti Movement was established by Kuwaiti youth who opposed British rule and submitted a petition requesting the Iraqi government reunifies Kuwait and Iraq 140 141 Due to fears of armed uprising in Kuwait the Al Sabah agreed to the establishment of a legislative council to represent the Free Kuwaiti Movement demanding the reunification of Iraq and Kuwait 140 The council s first meeting in 1938 resulted in unanimous resolutions demanding the reunification of Kuwait and Iraq 140 On 22 February 1938 oil was first discovered in the Burgan field In March 1939 a popular armed uprising erupted within Kuwait to reunify with Iraq 140 The Al Sabah family along with British military support violently put down the uprising and killed and imprisoned its participants 140 King Ghazi of Iraq publicly demanded the release of the Kuwaiti prisoners and warned the Al Sabah family to end the repression of the Free Kuwaiti Movement 140 141 1946 1982 State building Edit Between 1946 and 1982 Kuwait experienced a period of prosperity driven by oil and its liberal atmosphere 142 143 144 In popular discourse the years between 1946 and 1982 are referred to as the Golden Era of Kuwait 142 143 144 145 In 1950 a major public work programme began to enable Kuwaitis to enjoy a modern standard of living By 1952 the country became the largest oil exporter in the Persian Gulf region This massive growth attracted many foreign workers especially from Palestine India and Egypt with the latter being particularly political within the context of the Arab Cold War 146 It was also in 1952 that the first masterplan of Kuwait was designed by the British planning firm of Minoprio Spenceley and Macfarlane In June 1961 Kuwait became independent with the end of the British protectorate and the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah became Emir of Kuwait Kuwait s national day however is celebrated on 25 February the anniversary of the coronation of Sheikh Abdullah it was originally celebrated on 19 June the date of independence but concerns over the summer heat caused the government to move it 147 Under the terms of the newly drafted Constitution Kuwait held its first parliamentary elections in 1963 Kuwait was the first of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf to establish a constitution and parliament HMS Victorious taking part in Operation Vantage in July 1961 Although Kuwait formally gained independence in 1961 Iraq initially refused to recognize the country s independence by maintaining that Kuwait is part of Iraq albeit Iraq later briefly backed down following a show of force by Britain and Arab League support of Kuwait s independence 148 149 150 The short lived Operation Vantage crisis evolved in July 1961 as the Iraqi government threatened to invade Kuwait and the invasion was finally averted following plans by the Arab League to form an international Arab force against the potential Iraqi invasion of Kuwait 151 152 As a result of Operation Vantage the Arab League took over the border security of Kuwait and the British had withdrawn their forces by 19 October 148 Iraqi prime minister Abd al Karim Qasim was killed in a coup in 1963 but although Iraq recognised Kuwaiti independence and the military threat was perceived to be reduced Britain continued to monitor the situation and kept forces available to protect Kuwait until 1971 There had been no Iraqi military action against Kuwait at the time this was attributed to the political and military situation within Iraq which continued to be unstable 9 A treaty of friendship between Iraq and Kuwait was signed in 1963 by which Iraq recognised the 1932 border of Kuwait 153 After the 1967 Six Day War Kuwait along with other Arab speaking countries voted the three no s of the Khartoum Resolution no peace with Israel no Recognition of Israel no negotiations with Israel The Kuwait Iraq 1973 Sanita border skirmish evolved on 20 March 1973 when Iraqi army units occupied El Samitah near the Kuwaiti border which evoked an international crisis 154 On 6 February 1974 Palestinian militants occupied the Japanese embassy in Kuwait taking the ambassador and ten others hostage The militants motive was to support the Japanese Red Army members and Palestinian militants who were holding hostages on a Singaporean ferry in what is known as the Laju incident Ultimately the hostages were released and the guerrillas allowed to fly to Aden This was the first time Palestinian guerrillas struck in Kuwait as the Al Sabah ruling family headed by Sheikh Sabah Al Salim Al Sabah funded the Palestinian resistance movement Kuwait had been a regular endpoint for Palestinian plane hijacking in the past and had considered itself safe In the 1960s and 1970s Kuwait was considered the most developed country in the region 155 156 157 Kuwait was the pioneer in the Middle East in diversifying its earnings away from oil exports 158 The Kuwait Investment Authority is the world s first sovereign wealth fund From the 1970s onward Kuwait scored highest of all Arab countries on the Human Development Index 157 Kuwait University was established in 1966 157 Kuwait s theatre industry was well known throughout the Arab world 142 157 In the 1960s and 1970s Kuwait s press was described as one of the freest in the world 159 Kuwait was the pioneer in the literary renaissance in the Arab region 160 In 1958 Al Arabi magazine was first published The magazine went on to become the most popular magazine in the Arab world 160 Many Arab writers moved to Kuwait because they enjoyed greater freedom of expression than elsewhere in the Arab world 161 162 The Iraqi poet Ahmed Matar left Iraq in the 1970s to take refuge in the more liberal environment of Kuwait Kuwaiti society embraced liberal and non traditional attitudes throughout the 1960s and 1970s 163 For example most Kuwaiti women did not wear the hijab in the 1960s and 70s 164 165 1982 1990 Gulf War Edit Main articles Terrorism in Kuwait Gulf War and Kuwait and state sponsored terrorism In the early 1980s Kuwait experienced a major economic crisis after the Souk Al Manakh stock market crash and decrease in oil price 166 167 168 169 During the Iran Iraq War Kuwait supported Iraq Throughout the 1980s there were several terror attacks in Kuwait including the 1983 Kuwait bombings hijacking of several Kuwait Airways planes and the attempted assassination of Emir Jaber in 1985 Kuwait was a regional hub of science and technology in the 1960s and 1970s up until the early 1980s the scientific research sector significantly suffered due to the terror attacks 170 Kuwaiti oil fires set by retreating Iraqi forces in 1991 After the Iran Iraq War ended Kuwait declined an Iraqi request to forgive its US 65 billion debt 171 An economic rivalry between the two countries ensued after Kuwait increased its oil production by 40 percent 172 Tensions between the two countries increased further in July 1990 after Iraq complained to OPEC claiming that Kuwait was stealing its oil from a field near the border by slant drilling of the Rumaila field 172 In August 1990 Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait without any warning After a series of failed diplomatic negotiations the United States led a coalition to remove the Iraqi forces from Kuwait in what became known as the Gulf War On 26 February 1991 in phase of code named Operation Desert Storm the coalition succeeded in driving out the Iraqi forces As they retreated Iraqi forces carried out a scorched earth policy by setting oil wells on fire 173 During the Iraqi occupation more than 1 000 Kuwaiti civilians were killed In addition more than 600 Kuwaitis went missing during Iraq s occupation 174 remains of approximately 375 were found in mass graves in Iraq Kuwait celebrates February 26 as Liberation Day The event marked the country as the centre of the last major war in the 20th century Smoke from burning Kuwait oil fields after Saddam Hussein set fire to them during the Gulf war 1991 Present Present era Edit In the early 1990s Kuwait expelled approximately 400 000 Palestinian expats 175 Kuwait s policy was a response to alignment of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the PLO with Saddam Hussein Kuwait also deported thousands of Iraqis and Yemenis after the Gulf War 176 177 In addition hundreds of thousands of stateless Bedoon were expelled from Kuwait in the early to mid 1990s 178 179 176 13 177 At the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1995 it was announced that the Al Sabah ruling family deported 150 000 stateless Bedoon to refugee camps in the Kuwaiti desert near the Iraqi border with minimal water insufficient food and no basic shelter 180 179 The Kuwaiti authorities also threatened to murder the stateless Bedoon 180 179 As a result many of the stateless Bedoon fled to Iraq where they still remain stateless people even today 181 182 In March 2003 Kuwait became the springboard for the US led invasion of Iraq In 2005 women won the right to vote and run in elections Upon the death of the Emir Jaber in January 2006 Sheikh Saad Al Sabah succeeded him but was removed nine days later due to his failing health As a result Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah was sworn in as Emir From 2006 onwards Kuwait suffered from chronic political deadlock between the government and parliament which resulted in multiple cabinet reshuffles and dissolutions 183 This significantly hampered investment and economic reforms in Kuwait making the country s economy much more dependent on oil 183 From 2006 to 2009 Kuwait had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the Arab world 184 185 186 187 China awarded Kuwait Investment Authority an additional 700 million quota on top of 300 million awarded in March 2012 188 The quota is the highest to be granted by China to foreign investment entities 188 In 2014 and 2015 Kuwait was ranked first among Arab countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 189 190 191 Kuwait Towers In March 2014 David S Cohen who was then Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence accused Kuwait of funding terrorism 192 Since the end of the Gulf War in 1991 accusations of Kuwait funding terrorism have been very common and come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports Western government officials scholarly research and renowned journalists 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 192 From 2014 to 2015 Kuwait was frequently described as the world s biggest source of terrorism funding particularly for ISIS and Al Qaeda 193 194 195 201 192 199 196 197 On 26 June 2015 a suicide bombing took place at a Shia Muslim mosque in Kuwait The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack Twenty seven people were killed and 227 people were wounded It was the largest terror attack in Kuwait s history In the aftermath a lawsuit was filed accusing the Kuwaiti government of negligence and direct responsibility for the terror attack 202 203 Due to declining oil prices since the late 2010s Kuwait has been facing one of the worst economic crunches in the entire region 204 Historically Kuwait s infrastructure projects market has underperformed its potential due to political deadlock between the government and parliament 205 183 Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City was inaugurated in mid 2016 206 207 208 209 210 In 2020 the Kuwaiti government experienced its first fiscal deficit since 1995 211 212 In recent years Kuwait has invested significantly in its economic relations with China 213 China has been Kuwait s largest trade partner since 2016 214 215 216 217 218 Under the Belt and Road Initiative Kuwait and China have various cooperation projects including South al Mutlaa which is currently under construction in northern Kuwait 219 220 221 222 223 The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Causeway is part of the first phase of the Silk City project 224 The causeway was inaugurated in May 2019 as part of Kuwait Vision 2035 225 226 it connects Kuwait City to northern Kuwait 225 224 The Kuwait National Cultural District comprises the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre Al Shaheed Park and Al Salam Palace 227 228 229 230 In 2020 Kuwait s domestic travel and tourism spending was 6 1 billion 231 The COVID 19 pandemic has exacerbated Kuwait s economic crisis 232 233 234 235 Kuwait s economy faced a budget deficit of 46 billion in 2020 236 237 183 In September 2020 Kuwait s Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah became the 16th Emir of Kuwait and the successor to Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah who died at the age of 91 238 In October 2020 Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah was appointed as the Crown Prince 239 240 241 242 Kuwait currently has the largest US military presence in the Middle East region 243 There are over 14 000 US military personnel stationed in the country 243 Camp Arifjan is the largest US military base in Kuwait Geography EditMain article Geography of Kuwait Skyline of Kuwait City capital and largest city of Kuwait A satellite image of Kuwait reveals its desert topography Kuwait shares land borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia and maritime borders with Iraq Saudi Arabia and Iran Located in the north east corner of the Arabian Peninsula Kuwait is one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of land area Kuwait lies between latitudes 28 and 31 N and longitudes 46 and 49 E Kuwait is generally low lying with the highest point being 306 m 1 004 ft above sea level 9 Mutla Ridge is the highest point in Kuwait Kuwait has ten islands 244 With an area of 860 km2 330 sq mi the Bubiyan is the largest island in Kuwait and is connected to the rest of the country by a 2 380 metre long 7 808 ft bridge 245 0 6 of Kuwaiti land area is considered arable 9 with sparse vegetation found along its 499 kilometre long 310 mi coastline 9 Kuwait City is located on Kuwait Bay a natural deep water harbor Kuwait s Burgan field has a total capacity of approximately 70 billion barrels 11 billion cubic metres of proven oil reserves During the 1991 Kuwaiti oil fires more than 500 oil lakes were created covering a combined surface area of about 35 7 km2 13 3 4 sq mi 246 The resulting soil contamination due to oil and soot accumulation had made eastern and south eastern parts of Kuwait uninhabitable Sand and oil residue had reduced large parts of the Kuwaiti desert to semi asphalt surfaces 247 The oil spills during the Gulf War also drastically affected Kuwait s marine resources 248 Climate Edit Main articles Climate of Kuwait and Environmental issues in Kuwait Due to Kuwait s proximity to Iraq and Iran the winter season in Kuwait is colder than other coastal countries in the region especially UAE Qatar and Bahrain 249 Kuwait is also less humid than other coastal countries in the region The spring season in March is warm with occasional thunderstorms The frequent winds from the northwest are cold in winter and hot in summer Southeasterly damp winds spring up between July and October Hot and dry south winds prevail in spring and early summer The shamal a northwesterly wind common during June and July causes dramatic sandstorms 250 Summers in Kuwait are some of the hottest on earth The highest recorded temperature was 54 C 129 F at Mitribah on 21 July 2016 which is the highest temperature recorded in Asia 251 252 Kuwait emits a lot of carbon dioxide per person compared to most other countries 253 In recent years Kuwait has been regularly ranked among the world s highest countries in term of CO2 per capita emissions 254 255 256 Nature reserves Edit At present there are five protected areas in Kuwait recognized by the IUCN In response to Kuwait becoming the 169th signatory of the Ramsar Convention Bubiyan Island s Mubarak al Kabeer reserve was designated as the country s first Wetland of International Importance 257 The 50 948 ha reserve consists of small lagoons and shallow salt marshes and is important as a stop over for migrating birds on two migration routes 257 The reserve is home to the world s largest breeding colony of crab plover 257 Biodiversity Edit Main article Wildlife of Kuwait Currently 444 species of birds have been recorded in Kuwait 18 species of which breed in the country 258 The arfaj is the national flower of Kuwait 259 Due to its location at the head of the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Tigris Euphrates river Kuwait is situated at the crossroads of many major bird migration routes and between two and three million birds pass each year 260 Kuwait s marine and littoral ecosystems contain the bulk of the country s biodiversity heritage 260 The marshes in northern Kuwait and Jahra have become increasingly important as a refuge for passage migrants 260 Twenty eight species of mammal are found in Kuwait animals such as gerboa desert rabbits and hedgehogs are common in the desert 260 Large carnivores such as the wolf caracal and jackal are longer present 260 Among the endangered mammalian species are the red fox and wild cat 260 Forty reptile species have been recorded although none are endemic to Kuwait 260 Kuwait Oman and Yemen are the only locations where the endangered smoothtooth blacktip shark is confirmed as occurring 261 Kuwaiti islands are important breeding areas for four species of tern and the socotra cormorant 260 Kubbar Island has been recognised an Important Bird Area IBA by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of white cheeked terns 262 Water and sanitation Edit Kuwait is part of the Tigris Euphrates river system basin 263 264 265 266 267 268 Several Tigris Euphrates confluences form parts of the Kuwait Iraq border 269 Bubiyan Island is part of the Shatt al Arab delta 79 Kuwait is partially part of the Mesopotamian Marshes 270 271 272 Kuwait does not currently have any permanent rivers within its territory However Kuwait does have several wadis the most notable of which is Wadi al Batin which forms the border between Kuwait and Iraq 273 Kuwait also has several river like marine channels around Bubiyan Island most notably Khawr Abd Allah which is now an estuary but once was the point where the Shatt al Arab emptied into the Persian Gulf Khawr Abd Allah is located in southern Iraq and northern Kuwait the Iraq Kuwait border divides the lower portion of the estuary but adjacent to the port of Umm Qasr the estuary becomes wholly Iraqi It forms the northeast coastline of Bubiyan Island and the north coastline of Warbah Island 274 Kuwait relies on water desalination as a primary source of fresh water for drinking and domestic purposes 275 276 There are currently more than six desalination plants 276 Kuwait was the first country in the world to use desalination to supply water for large scale domestic use The history of desalination in Kuwait dates back to 1951 when the first distillation plant was commissioned 275 In 1965 the Kuwaiti government commissioned the Swedish engineering company of VBB Sweco to develop and implement a plan for a modern water supply system for Kuwait City The company built five groups of water towers thirty one towers total designed by its chief architect Sune Lindstrom called the mushroom towers For a sixth site the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed wanted a more spectacular design This last group known as Kuwait Towers consists of three towers two of which also serve as water towers 277 Water from the desalination facility is pumped up to the tower The thirty three towers have a standard capacity of 102 000 cubic meters of water The Water Towers Kuwait Tower and the Kuwait Water Towers were awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 1980 Cycle 278 Kuwait s fresh water resources are limited to groundwater desalinated seawater and treated wastewater effluents 275 There are three major municipal wastewater treatment plants 275 Most water demand is currently satisfied through seawater desalination plants 275 276 Sewage disposal is handled by a national sewage network that covers 98 of facilities in the country 279 Government and politics EditMain articles Cabinet of Kuwait Government of Kuwait and Politics of Kuwait Political system Edit Kuwait is a semi constitutional emirate 3 which is sometimes described as anocratic 280 The Polity data series 283 and Economist Democracy Index 284 both categorize Kuwait as an autocracy dictatorship Freedom House rates the country as partly free in the Freedom in the World survey 285 The Emir is the head of state The political system consists of an appointed government dominated by the Al Sabah ruling family appointed judiciary and elected legislature The Constitution of Kuwait was promulgated in 1962 286 The Seif Palace the original seat of the Government of Kuwait Executive power is executed by the government The Emir appoints the prime minister who in turn chooses the cabinet of ministers comprising the government In recent decades numerous policies of the Kuwaiti government have been characterized as demographic engineering especially in relation to Kuwait s stateless Bedoon crisis and the history of naturalization in Kuwait The Emir appoints all the judges and many judges are foreign nationals from Egypt The Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution Kuwait has an active public sphere and civil society with political and social organizations that are parties in all but name 287 288 Professional groups like the Chamber of Commerce maintain their autonomy from the government 287 288 The legislative branch consists of the National Assembly which has nominal oversight authority As per article 107 of the Kuwait constitution the Emir can dissolve the parliament so long as an election for a new assembly are held within two months of the dissolution 289 Due to frequent cabinet resignations Kuwait has a new government every eight months The political instability has significantly hampered the country s economic development and infrastructure 290 183 233 The Emir has suspended the constitution twice in 1976 under Sheikh Sabah Al Salim Al Sabah and 1986 under Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah 3 Kuwait is regularly characterized as being a rentier state in which the ruling family uses oil revenues to buy the political acquiescence of the citizenry more than 70 of government spending consists of public sector salaries and subsidies 291 Kuwait has the highest public sector wage bill in the GCC region as public sector wages account for 12 4 of GDP 236 Although Kuwaiti women outnumber men in the workforce 292 the political participation of Kuwaiti women has been limited 293 Kuwaiti women are considered among the most emancipated women in the Middle East In 2014 and 2015 Kuwait was ranked first among Arab countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 189 190 191 In 2013 53 of Kuwaiti women participated in the labor force 294 Kuwait has higher female citizen participation in the workforce than other GCC countries 292 294 295 According to the Social Progress Index Kuwait ranks first in social progress in the Arab world and Muslim world and second highest in the Middle East after Israel 296 Kuwait ranks among the world s top countries by life expectancy 297 women s workforce participation 292 294 global food security 298 and school order and safety 299 Al Sabah dynasty Edit Main article House of Sabah Article 4 of the Kuwait constitution stipulates that Kuwait is a hereditary emirate whose emir must be an heir of Mubarak Al Sabah 289 Mubarak had four sons but an informal pattern of alternation between the descendants of his sons Jabir and Salem emerged since his death in 1915 300 This pattern of succession had one exception before 2006 when Sheikh Sabah Al Salim a son of Salem was named crown prince to succeed his half brother Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem as a consequence of infighting and lack of consensus within the ruling family council 300 The alternating system was resumed when Sheikh Sabah Al Salim named Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed of the Jabir branch as his crown prince eventually ruling as Emir for 29 years from 1977 to 2006 300 On January 15 2006 Emir Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed died and his crown prince Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah of the Salem branch was named Emir 301 On January 23 2006 the National Assembly unanimously voted in favor of Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah abdicating in favor of Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed citing his illness with a form of dementia 300 Instead of naming a successor from the Salem branch as per convention Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed named his half brother Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmed as crown prince and his nephew Sheikh Nasser Al Mohammed as prime minister 300 Article 4 of the Kuwait constitution stipulates that the incoming Emir s choice of crown prince needs to be approved by an absolute majority of the National Assembly 289 If this approval is not achieved the emir is constitutionally required to submit three alternative candidates for crown prince to the National Assembly 289 This process has caused contenders for power to engage in alliance building in the political scene which has taken historically private feuding within the ruling family to the public arena and the political realm 300 Foreign relations Edit Main article Foreign relations of Kuwait Kuwait s then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al Khalid Al Sabah with then US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in 2017 The foreign affairs of Kuwait are handled at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs The first foreign affairs department bureau was established in 1961 Kuwait became the 111th member state of the United Nations in May 1963 It is a long standing member of the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council Before the Gulf War Kuwait was the only pro Soviet state in the Persian Gulf region 302 Kuwait acted as a conduit for the Soviets to the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf and Kuwait was used to demonstrate the benefits of a pro Soviet stance 302 In July 1987 Kuwait refused to allow U S military bases in its territory 303 As a result of the Gulf War Kuwait s relations with the U S have improved major non NATO ally Kuwait is also a major ally of ASEAN and enjoys a close economic relationship with China while working to establish a model of cooperation in numerous fields 304 305 Kuwait is a major non NATO ally to the United States and currently has the largest US military presence in the entire Middle East region 243 The United States government utilizes Kuwait based military bases as staging hubs training ranges and logistical support for regional and international military operations 243 The bases include Camp Arifjan Camp Buehring Ali Al Salem Air Field and the naval base Camp Patriot 243 Kuwait also has strong economic ties to China and ASEAN 306 307 Under the Belt and Road Initiative 308 224 Kuwait and China have many important cooperation projects including South al Mutlaa and Mubarak Al Kabeer Port 219 220 221 309 224 Military Edit The Military of Kuwait traces its original roots to the Kuwaiti cavalrymen and infantrymen that used to protect Kuwait and its wall since the early 1900s These cavalrymen and infantrymen formed the defense and security forces in metropolitan areas and were charged with protecting outposts outside the wall of Kuwait The Military of Kuwait consists of several joint defense forces The governing bodies are the Kuwait Ministry of Defense the Kuwait Ministry of Interior the Kuwait National Guard and the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate The Emir of Kuwait is the commander in chief of all defense forces by default Legal system Edit Main article Legal system of Kuwait Kuwait follows the civil law system modeled after the French legal system 310 311 312 Kuwait s legal system is largely secular 313 314 315 316 Sharia law governs only family law for Muslim residents 314 317 while non Muslims in Kuwait have a secular family law For the application of family law there are three separate court sections Sunni Maliki Shia and non Muslim According to the United Nations Kuwait s legal system is a mix of English common law French civil law Egyptian civil law and Islamic law 318 The court system in Kuwait is secular 319 320 Unlike other Arab states of the Persian Gulf Kuwait does not have Sharia courts 320 Sections of the civil court system administer family law 320 Kuwait has the most secular commercial law in the Persian Gulf region 321 The parliament criminalized alcohol consumption in 1983 322 Kuwait s Code of Personal Status was promulgated in 1984 323 Administrative divisions Edit Main articles Governorates of Kuwait and Areas of Kuwait Kuwait is divided into six governorates Al Asimah Governorate or Capital Governorate Hawalli Governorate Farwaniya Governorate Mubarak Al Kabeer Governorate Ahmadi Governorate and Jahra Governorate The governorates are further subdivided into areas Human rights and corruption Edit Main articles Human rights in Kuwait and Bedoon Human rights in Kuwait has been the subject of significant criticism particularly regarding the Bedoon stateless people 13 178 324 176 The Kuwaiti government s handling of the stateless Bedoon crisis has come under criticism from many human rights organisations and even the United Nations 325 According to Human Rights Watch in 1995 Kuwait has produced 300 000 stateless Bedoon 14 Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region 178 326 Since 1986 the Kuwaiti government has refused to grant any form of documentation to the Bedoon including birth certificates death certificates identity cards marriage certificates and driving licences 326 327 The Kuwaiti Bedoon crisis resembles the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar Burma 328 According to several human rights organizations Kuwait is committing ethnic cleansing and genocide against the stateless Bedoon 13 178 326 On the other hand human rights organizations have criticized Kuwait for the human rights abuses toward foreign nationals Foreign nationals account for 70 of Kuwait s total population The kafala system leaves foreign nationals prone to exploitation Administrative deportation is very common in Kuwait for minor offenses including minor traffic violations Kuwait is one of the world s worst offenders in human trafficking Hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals are subjected to numerous human rights abuses including involuntary servitude They are subjected to physical and sexual abuse non payment of wages poor work conditions threats confinement to the home and withholding of passports to restrict their freedom of movement 329 330 Since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic vaccination rollout Kuwait has been regularly accused of implementing a xenophobic vaccine policy toward foreign nationals 331 Kuwait s mistreatment of foreign workers has resulted in various high profile diplomatic crises In 2018 there was a diplomatic crisis between Kuwait and the Philippines due to the mistreatment of Filipino workers in Kuwait Approximately 60 of Filipinos in Kuwait are employed as domestic workers In July 2018 Kuwaiti fashionista Sondos Alqattan released a controversial video criticizing domestic workers from the Philippines 332 In 2020 there was a diplomatic crisis between Kuwait and Egypt due to the mistreatment of Egyptian workers in Kuwait 333 Various Kuwaitis have been jailed after they criticized the Al Sabah ruling family 334 In 2010 the U S State Department said it had concerns about the case of Kuwaiti blogger and journalist Mohammad Abdul Kader al Jassem who was on trial for allegedly criticizing the ruling al Sabah family and faced up to 18 years in prison if convicted 335 He was detained after a complaint against him was issued by the office of Kuwait s Emir Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al Sabah 335 Extensive corruption among Kuwait s high level government officials is a serious problem resulting in tensions between the government and the public 336 In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2007 Kuwait was ranked 60th out of 179 countries for corruption least corrupt countries are at the top of the list On a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 the most corrupt and 10 the most transparent Transparency International rated Kuwait 4 3 337 In 2009 20 of the youth in juvenile centres had dyslexia as compared to the 6 of the general population 338 Data from a 1993 study found that there is a higher rate of psychiatric morbidity in Kuwaiti prisons than in the general population 339 Economy EditMain article Economy of Kuwait Al Hamra Tower is the tallest sculpted tower in the world A proportional representation of Kuwait exports 2019 Kuwait has a wealthy petroleum based economy 340 Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world 341 342 343 344 The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued unit of currency in the world 21 According to the World Bank Kuwait is the fifth richest country in the world by gross national income per capita and one of five nations with a GNI per capita above 70 000 341 As a result of various diversification policies petroleum now accounts for 43 of total GDP and 70 of export earnings 217 The biggest non oil industry is steel manufacturing 345 346 347 348 349 It is noteworthy in the study that Kuwait ranked first in the Arab world and 11th globally in the number of small and medium enterprises per 1 000 people with a score of 67 3 points sorces https www arabtimesonline com news kuwait billionaires richest worldwide In the past five years there has been a significant rise in entrepreneurship and small business start ups in Kuwait 350 351 The informal sector is also on the rise 352 mainly due to the popularity of Instagram businesses 353 354 355 In 2020 Kuwait ranked fourth in the MENA region in startup funding after the UAE Egypt and Saudi Arabia 356 In 2019 Iraq was Kuwait s leading export market and food agricultural products accounted for 94 2 of total export commodities 357 Globally Kuwait s main export products were mineral fuels including oil 89 1 of total exports aircraft and spacecraft 4 3 organic chemicals 3 2 plastics 1 2 iron and steel 0 2 gems and precious metals 0 1 machinery including computers 0 1 aluminum 0 1 copper 0 1 and salt sulphur stone and cement 0 1 358 Kuwait was the world s biggest exporter of sulfonated nitrated and nitrosated hydrocarbons in 2019 359 Kuwait was ranked 63rd out of 157 countries in the 2019 Economic Complexity Index ECI 359 In recent years Kuwait has enacted certain measures to regulate foreign labor due to security concerns For instance workers from Georgia are subject to heightened scrutiny when applying for entry visas and an outright ban was imposed on the entry of domestic workers from Guinea Bissau and Vietnam 360 Workers from Bangladesh are also banned 361 In April 2019 Kuwait added Ethiopia Burkina Faso Bhutan Guinea and Guinea Bissau to the list of banned countries bringing the total to 20 According to Migrant Rights the bans are put in place mainly due to the fact that these countries lack embassies and labour corporations in Kuwait 362 Kuwait is currently considered the region s most oil dependent country with the lowest share of economic diversification 183 233 363 Petroleum and natural gas Edit Main article Petroleum industry in Kuwait Despite its relatively small territory Kuwait has proven crude oil reserves of 104 billion barrels estimated to be 10 of the world s reserves Kuwait also has substantial natural gas reserves All natural resources in the country are state property As part of Kuwait Vision 2035 Kuwait aims to position itself as a global hub for the petrochemical industry 364 Al Zour Refinery is the largest refinery in the Middle East 365 366 367 It is Kuwait s largest environmentally friendly oil refinery 368 364 where this refers to the effect on the local environment as opposed to the global environmental impact of burning the resulting oil This Al Zour Refinery is a Kuwait China cooperation project under the Belt and Road Initiative 369 Al Zour LNG Terminal is the Middle East s largest import terminal for liquefied natural gas 370 371 372 It is the world s largest capacity LNG storage and regasification green field project 373 374 The project has attracted investments worth US 3 billion 375 376 Other megaprojects include biofuel and clean fuels 377 378 Steel manufacturing Edit Steel manufacturing is Kuwait s second biggest industry 346 United Steel Industrial Company KWT Steel is Kuwait s main steel manufacturing company the company caters to all of Kuwait s domestic market demands particularly construction 347 345 348 349 Kuwait is self sufficient in steel 347 345 348 349 Agriculture Edit 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 379 8 5 of Kuwait s entire territory consists of agricultural land although arable land constitutes 0 6 of Kuwait s entire territory 380 381 Historically Jahra was a predominantly agricultural area There are currently various farms in Jahra 382 Finance Edit The Kuwait Investment Authority KIA is Kuwait s largest sovereign wealth fund specializing in foreign investment The KIA is the world s oldest sovereign wealth fund Since 1953 the Kuwaiti government has directed investments into Europe United States and Asia Pacific In 2021 the holdings were valued at around 700 billion in assets 383 384 It is the 3rd largest sovereign wealth fund in the world 383 384 Kuwait has a leading position in the financial industry in the GCC 385 The Emir has promoted the idea that Kuwait should focus its energies in terms of economic development on the financial industry 385 The historical preeminence of Kuwait among the GCC monarchies in finance dates back to the founding of the National Bank of Kuwait in 1952 385 The bank was the first local publicly traded corporation in the GCC region 385 In the late 1970s and early 1980s an alternative stock market trading in shares of GCC companies emerged in Kuwait the Souk Al Manakh 385 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 385 Kuwait has a large wealth management industry that stands out in the region 385 Kuwaiti investment companies administer more assets than those of any other GCC country save the much larger Saudi Arabia 385 The Kuwait Financial Centre in a rough calculation estimated that Kuwaiti firms accounted for over one third of the total assets under management in the GCC 385 The relative strength of Kuwait in the financial industry extends to its stock market 385 For many years the total valuation of all companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange far exceeded the value of those on any other GCC bourse except Saudi Arabia 385 In 2011 financial and banking companies made up more than half of the market capitalization of the Kuwaiti bourse among all the GCC states the market capitalization of Kuwaiti financial sector firms was in total behind only that of Saudi Arabia 385 In recent years Kuwaiti investment companies have invested large percentages of their assets abroad and their foreign assets have become substantially larger than their domestic assets 385 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 In 1974 the fund s lending mandate was expanded to include all developing countries in the world Health Edit Further information Health in Kuwait and Healthcare in Kuwait Kuwait has a state funded healthcare system which provides treatment without charge to Kuwaiti nationals There are outpatient clinics in every residential area in Kuwait A public insurance scheme exists to provide reduced cost healthcare to expatriates Private healthcare providers also run medical facilities in the country available to members of their insurance schemes As part of Kuwait Vision 2035 many new hospitals recently opened 386 387 388 In the years leading up to the COVID 19 pandemic Kuwait invested in its health care system at a rate that was proportionally higher than most other GCC countries 389 Under the Kuwait Vision 2035 healthcare strategy the public hospital sector significantly increased its capacity 387 386 388 Many new hospitals recently opened Kuwait currently has 20 public hospitals 390 387 386 388 The new Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Hospital is the largest hospital in the Middle East 391 Kuwait also has 16 private hospitals 386 Private sector hospitals in Kuwait offer multiple specialities This trend is likely to grow further especially in tapping opportunities to reduce treatments performed overseas and develop inbound medical tourism market by developing high end speciality hospitals 392 Science and technology Edit Kuwait has a growing scientific research sector According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office Kuwait has registered 448 patents as of 31 December 2015 393 Kuwait is the second largest patent producer in the Arab world 393 394 395 396 In the early 2010s Kuwait produced the largest number of scientific publications and patents per capita in the Arab world and OIC 397 398 399 400 401 The Kuwaiti government has implemented various programs to foster innovation resulting in patent rights 398 397 Between 2010 and 2014 Kuwait registered the highest growth in patents in the Arab world 398 397 395 The WIPO Global Innovation Index found that Kuwait ranks relatively high for its innovation efficiency ratio which shows how much innovation output a country is getting for its inputs 402 Kuwait was ranked 72nd in the Global Innovation Index in 2021 down from 60th in 2019 403 404 405 406 Kuwait was the first country in the region to implement 5G technology 407 Kuwait is among the world s leading markets in 5G penetration 407 408 Space and satellite programmes Edit Kuwait has an emerging space industry which is largely driven by private sector initiatives 409 Um Alaish 4Seven 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 410 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 It provided satellite communication services in Kuwait until 1990 when it was destroyed by the Iraqi armed forces during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait 411 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 The station was named Um Alaish 4 to continue the legacy of Um Alaish satellite station 412 Um Alaish 4 is a member of FUNcube distributed ground station network 413 and the Satellite Networked Open Ground Station project SatNOGS 414 Kuwait s first satelliteKuwait s Orbital Space in collaboration with the Space Challenges Program 415 and EnduroSat 416 introduced an international initiative called Code in Space The initiative allows students from around the world to send and execute their own code in space 417 The code is transmitted from a satellite ground station to a cubesat nanosatellite orbiting earth 500 km 310 mi above sea level The code is then executed by the satellite s onboard computer and tested under real space environment conditions The nanosatellite is called QMR KWT Arabic قمر الكويت which means Moon of Kuwait translated from Arabic 418 QMR KWT launched to space on 30 June 2021 419 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 420 It was deployed into its final orbit Sun synchronous orbit on 16 July 2021 421 QMR KWT is Kuwait s first satellite 419 422 418 Prototype of the Kuwait Space Rocket Kuwait Space RocketMain article Kuwait Space Rocket The Kuwait Space Rocket KSR is a Kuwaiti project to build and launch the first suborbital liquid bi propellant rocket in Arabia 423 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 5 0 mi and a more expansive suborbital test phase with the KSR 2 planned to fly to an altitude of 100 km 62 mi 424 TSCK experiment in spaceKuwait 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 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 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 425 The students experiment was named Kuwait s Experiment E coli Consuming Carbon Dioxide to Combat Climate Change 426 427 The experiment was launched on SpaceX CRS 21 SpX 21 spaceflight to the International Space Station ISS on 6 December 2020 Astronaut Shannon Walker member of the ISS Expedition 64 conducted the experiment on behalf of the students National satellite projectIn 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 428 429 Education Edit Main article Education in Kuwait Kuwait had the highest literacy rate in the Arab world in 2010 430 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 431 Schooling at primary and intermediate level is compulsory for all students aged 6 14 All the levels of state education including higher education are free 432 The public education system is undergoing a revamp due to a project in conjunction with the World Bank 433 434 Tourism Edit In 2020 Kuwait s domestic travel and tourism spending reached 6 1 billion up from 1 6 billion in 2019 with family tourism a rapidly growing segment 231 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 231 In 2016 the tourism industry generated nearly 500 million in revenue 435 In 2015 tourism accounted for 1 5 percent of the GDP 436 437 Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City is one of Kuwait s biggest attractions 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 228 227 With a capital cost of more than US 1 billion the project is one of the largest cultural investments in the world 228 The Kuwait National Cultural District is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network 438 Al Shaheed Park is the largest green roof project ever undertaken in the Arab world 439 The annual Hala Febrayer festival attracts many tourists from neighboring GCC countries 440 and includes a variety of events including music concerts parades and carnivals 440 441 442 The festival is a month long commemoration of the liberation of Kuwait and runs from 1 to 28 February Liberation Day itself is celebrated on 26 February 443 Transport Edit Main article Transport in Kuwait Kuwait has an extensive and modern network of highways Roadways extended 5 749 km 3 572 mi of which 4 887 km 3 037 mi is paved There are more than two million passenger cars and 500 000 commercial taxis buses and trucks in use On major highways the maximum speed is 120 km h 75 mph Since there is no railway system in the country most people travel by automobiles A highway in Kuwait City The country s public transportation network consists almost entirely of bus routes The state owned Kuwait Public Transportation Company was established in 1962 It runs local bus routes across Kuwait as well as longer distance services to other Gulf states The main private bus company is CityBus which operates about 20 routes across the country Another private bus company Kuwait Gulf Link Public Transport Services was started in 2006 It runs local bus routes across Kuwait and longer distance services to neighbouring Arab countries There are two airports in Kuwait Kuwait International Airport serves as the principal hub for international air travel State owned Kuwait Airways is the largest airline in the country 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 In 2004 the first private airline of Kuwait Jazeera Airways was launched In 2005 the second private airline Wataniya Airways was founded Kuwait has one of the largest shipping industries in the region The Kuwait Ports Public Authority manages and operates ports across Kuwait The country s principal commercial seaports are Shuwaikh and Shuaiba which handled combined cargo of 753 334 TEU in 2006 444 Mina Al Ahmadi is the largest port in the country Mubarak Al Kabeer Port in Bubiyan Island is currently under construction The port is expected to handle 2 million TEU when operations start Demographics EditMain article Demographics of Kuwait Kuwaiti youth celebrating Kuwait s independence and liberation 2011 Kuwait s 2018 population was 4 6 million people of which 1 8 million were Kuwaitis 800 000 are other Arabs 1 6 million Asian expatriates 445 and 47 227 Africans 446 Ethnic groups Edit Expatriates in Kuwait account for around 60 of Kuwait s total population At the end of December 2018 57 65 of Kuwait s total population were Arabs including Arab expats 445 Indians and Egyptians are the largest expat communities respectively 447 Religion Edit Main article Religion in Kuwait Holy Family Co Cathedral Kuwait s official state religion is Maliki Sunni Islam The Al Sabah ruling family including the Emir adhere to the Maliki madhhab of Sunni Islam 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 448 449 The country includes a native Christian community estimated to be composed of between 259 and 400 Christian Kuwaiti citizens 450 Kuwait is the only GCC country besides Bahrain to have a local Christian population who hold citizenship There is also a small number of Kuwaiti citizens who follow the Bahaʼi Faith 451 452 Kuwait also has a large community of expatriate Christians Hindus Buddhists and Sikhs 451 Languages Edit See also Kuwaiti Arabic and Kuwaiti Persian Kuwait s official language is Modern Standard Arabic but its everyday usage is limited to journalism and education Kuwaiti Arabic is the variant of Arabic used in everyday life 453 English is widely understood and often used as a business language Besides English French is taught as a third language for the students of the humanities at schools but for two years only Kuwaiti Arabic is a variant of Gulf Arabic sharing similarities with the dialects of neighboring coastal areas in Eastern Arabia 454 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 455 Due to historical immigration Kuwaiti Persian is used among Ajam Kuwaitis 456 457 The Iranian sub dialects of Larestani Khonji Bastaki and Gerashi also influenced the vocabulary of Kuwaiti Arabic 458 Most Shia Kuwaiti citizens are of Iranian ancestry 459 460 461 462 463 464 Culture EditMain article Culture of Kuwait Kuwaiti popular culture in the form of theatre radio music and television soap opera flourishes and is even exported to neighboring states 22 465 Within the Arab states of the Persian Gulf the culture of Kuwait is the closest to the culture of Bahrain this is evident in the close association between the two states in theatrical productions and soap operas 466 Performing arts Edit See also Music of Kuwait Television in Kuwait and Cinema of Kuwait A theatrical play titled Fateh Masr at Al Mubarikya school in the 1940s Kuwait has the oldest performing arts industry in the Arabian Peninsula 467 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 Kuwait is the main production centre of the Gulf television drama and comedy scene 469 Most Gulf television drama and comedy productions are filmed in Kuwait 469 471 472 Kuwaiti soap operas are the most watched soap operas from the Gulf region 468 473 474 Soap operas are most popular during the time of Ramadan when families gather to break their fast 475 Although usually performed in the Kuwaiti dialect they have been shown with success as far away as Tunisia 476 Kuwait is frequently dubbed the Hollywood of the Gulf due to the popularity of its television soap operas and theatre 477 478 Kuwait is the main centre of scenographic and performing arts education in the GCC region 479 480 Many famous Middle Eastern actors and singers attribute their success to training in Kuwait 481 The Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts HIDA provides higher education in theatrical arts 480 The institute has several divisions and attracts theatrical students from all over the GCC region Many actors have graduated from the institute such as Souad Abdullah Mohammed Khalifa Mansour Al Mansour along with a number of prominent critics such as Ismail Fahd Ismail Kuwait is known for its home grown tradition of theatre 482 483 484 Kuwait is the only country in the Gulf Arab region with a theatrical tradition 482 The theatrical movement in Kuwait constitutes a major part of the country s cultural life 485 Theatrical activities in Kuwait date back to the 1920s when the first spoken dramas were released 486 Theatre activities are still popular today 485 Theatre in Kuwait is subsidized by the government previously by the Ministry of Social Affairs and now by the National Council for Culture Arts and Letters NCCAL 487 Every urban district has a public theatre 488 The public theatre in Salmiya is named after actor Abdulhussain Abdulredha The annual Kuwait Theater Festival is the largest theatrical arts festival in Kuwait Kuwait is the birthplace of various popular musical genres such as sawt and fijiri 489 490 Traditional Kuwaiti music is a reflection of the country s seafaring heritage 491 which was influenced by many diverse cultures 492 493 489 Kuwait is widely considered the centre of traditional music in the GCC region 489 Kuwaiti music has considerably influenced the music culture in other GCC countries 494 490 Kuwait pioneered contemporary Khaliji music 495 496 497 Kuwaitis were the first commercial recording artists in the Gulf region 495 496 497 The first known Kuwaiti recordings were made between 1912 and 1915 498 Saleh and Daoud Al Kuwaity pioneered the Kuwaiti sawt music genre and wrote over 650 songs many of which are considered traditional and still played daily on radio stations both in Kuwait and the rest of the Arab world 490 499 500 501 502 503 Kuwait is home to various music festivals including the International Music Festival hosted by the National Council for Culture Arts and Letters NCCAL 504 505 The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre contains the largest opera house in the Middle East 506 Kuwait has several academic institutions specializing in university level music education 507 508 The Higher Institute of Musical Arts was established by the government to provide bachelor s degrees in music 509 507 508 In addition the College of Basic Education offers bachelor s degrees in music education 509 507 508 The Institute of Musical Studies offers music education qualifications equivalent to secondary school 509 508 507 Kuwait has a reputation for being the central music influence of the GCC countries 510 Over the last decade of satellite television stations many Kuwaiti musicians have become household names in other Arab countries For example Bashar Al Shatty became famous due to Star Academy Contemporary Kuwaiti music is popular throughout the Arab world Nawal El Kuwaiti Nabeel Shoail and Abdallah Al Rowaished are the most popular contemporary performers 511 Visual arts Edit Traditional Kuwaiti wedding dress in the 1970s Main article Art of Kuwait Kuwait has the oldest modern arts movement in the Arabian Peninsula 512 513 514 Beginning in 1936 Kuwait was the first Gulf Arab country to grant scholarships in the arts 512 The Kuwaiti artist Mojeb al Dousari was the earliest recognized visual artist in the Gulf Arab region 515 He is regarded as the founder of portrait art in the region 516 The Sultan Gallery was the first professional Arab art gallery in the Gulf 517 518 Kuwait is home to more than 30 art galleries 519 520 In recent years Kuwait s contemporary art scene has boomed 521 522 523 Khalifa Al Qattan was the first artist to hold a solo exhibition in Kuwait He founded a new art theory in the early 1960s known as circulism 524 525 Other notable Kuwaiti artists include Sami Mohammad Thuraya Al Baqsami and Suzan Bushnaq The government organizes various arts festivals including the Al Qurain Cultural Festival and Formative Arts Festival 526 527 528 The Kuwait International Biennial was inaugurated in 1967 529 more than 20 Arab and foreign countries have participated in the biennial 529 Prominent participants include Layla Al Attar In 2004 the Al Kharafi Biennial for Contemporary Arab Art was inaugurated Cuisine Edit Main article Cuisine of Kuwait Kuwaiti cuisine is a fusion of Arabian Iranian and Mesopotamian cuisines Kuwaiti cuisine is part of the Eastern Arabian cuisine A prominent dish in Kuwaiti cuisine is machboos a rice based dish usually prepared with basmati rice seasoned with spices and chicken or mutton Seafood is a significant part of the Kuwaiti diet especially fish 530 Mutabbaq samak is a national dish in Kuwait Other local favourites are hamour grouper which is typically served grilled fried or with biryani rice because of its texture and taste safi rabbitfish maid mulletfish and sobaity sea bream Kuwait s traditional flatbread is called Iranian khubz It is a large flatbread baked in a special oven and it is often topped with sesame seeds Numerous local bakeries dot the country the bakers are mainly Iranians hence the name of the bread Iranian khubuz Bread is often served with mahyawa fish sauce Museums Edit Main article List of museums in Kuwait Tareq Rajab Museum 531 The new Kuwait National Cultural District KNCD consists of various cultural venues including Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre Al Shaheed Park and Al Salam Palace 228 227 With a capital cost of more than US 1 billion it is one of the largest cultural districts in the world 228 The Abdullah Salem Cultural Centre is the largest museum complex in the Middle East 532 533 The Kuwait National Cultural District is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network 438 Sadu House is among Kuwait s most important cultural institutions Bait Al Othman is the largest museum specializing in Kuwait s history The Scientific Center is one of the largest science museums in the Middle East The Museum of Modern Art showcases the history of modern art in Kuwait and the region 534 The Kuwait Maritime Museum presents the country s maritime heritage in the pre oil era Several traditional Kuwaiti dhow ships are open to the public such as Fateh Al Khayr and Al Hashemi II which entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest wooden dhow ever built 535 536 The Historical Vintage and Classical Cars Museum displays vintage cars from Kuwait s motoring heritage The National Museum established in 1983 has been described as underused and overlooked 537 Several Kuwaiti museums are devoted to Islamic art most notably the Tareq Rajab Museums and Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah cultural centres 531 538 539 540 The Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah cultural centres include education wings conservation labs and research libraries 540 541 There are several art libraries in Kuwait 542 540 543 541 Khalifa Al Qattan s Mirror House is the most popular art museum in Kuwait 544 Many museums in Kuwait are private enterprises 545 538 In contrast to the top down approach in other Gulf states museum development in Kuwait reflects a greater sense of civic identity and demonstrates the strength of civil society in Kuwait which has produced many independent cultural enterprises 546 538 545 Society Edit Kuwaiti society is markedly more open than other Gulf Arab societies 547 Kuwaiti citizens are ethnically diverse consisting of both Arabs and Persians Ajam 548 549 550 Kuwait stands out in the region as the most liberal in empowering women in the public sphere 551 552 553 Kuwaiti women outnumber men in the workforce 292 Kuwaiti political scientist Ghanim Alnajjar sees these qualities as a manifestation of Kuwaiti society as a whole whereby in the Gulf Arab region it is the least strict about traditions 554 Media Edit Kuwait produces more newspapers and magazines per capita than its neighbors 555 556 The state owned Kuwait News Agency KUNA is the largest media house in the country The Ministry of Information regulates the media industry in Kuwait Kuwait s media is annually classified as partly free in the Freedom of Press survey by Freedom House 557 Since 2005 558 Kuwait has frequently earned the highest ranking of all Arab countries in the annual Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 In 2009 2011 2013 and 2014 Kuwait surpassed Israel as the country with the greatest press freedom in the Middle East 559 560 561 562 566 Kuwait is also frequently ranked as the Arab country with the greatest press freedom in Freedom House s annual Freedom of Press survey 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 Kuwait has 15 satellite television channels of which four are controlled by the Ministry of Information State owned Kuwait Television KTV offered first colored broadcast in 1974 and operates five television channels Government funded Radio Kuwait also offers daily informative programming in several languages including Arabic Persian Urdu and English on the AM and SW Literature Edit Main article Kuwaiti literature Kuwait has in recent years produced several prominent contemporary writers such as Ismail Fahd Ismail author of over twenty novels and numerous short story collections There is also evidence that Kuwaiti literature has long been interactive with English and French literature 575 Sport Edit Kuwaiti women at a local football match Football is the most popular sport in Kuwait The Kuwait Football Association KFA is the governing body of football in Kuwait The KFA organises the men s women s and futsal national teams The Kuwaiti Premier League is the top league of Kuwaiti football featuring eighteen teams The Kuwait national football team have been the champions of the 1980 AFC Asian Cup runners up of the 1976 AFC Asian Cup and have taken third place of the 1984 AFC Asian Cup Kuwait has also been to one FIFA World Cup in 1982 they drew 1 1 with Czechoslovakia before losing to France and England failing to advance from the first round Kuwait is home to many football clubs including Al Arabi Al Fahaheel Al Jahra Al Kuwait Al Naser Al Salmiya Al Shabab Al Qadsia Al Yarmouk Kazma Khaitan Sulaibikhat Sahel and Tadamon The biggest football rivalry in Kuwait is between Al Arabi and Al Qadsia Basketball is one of the country s most popular sports The Kuwait national basketball team is governed by the Kuwait Basketball Association KBA Kuwait made its international debut in 1959 The national team has been to the FIBA Asian Championship in basketball eleven times The Kuwaiti Division I Basketball League is the highest professional basketball league in Kuwait Cricket in Kuwait is governed by the Kuwait Cricket Association Other growing sports include rugby union Handball is widely considered to be the national icon of Kuwait although football is more popular among the overall population Ice hockey in Kuwait is governed by the Kuwait Ice Hockey Association Kuwait first joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1985 but was expelled in 1992 due to a lack of ice hockey activity 576 Kuwait was re admitted into the IIHF in May 2009 577 In 2015 Kuwait won the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia 578 579 In February 2020 Kuwait held for the first time a leg of the UIM Aquabike World Championship in front of Marina Beach City 580 In May 2022 Kuwait hosted the Third Gulf Cooperation Council GCC Games at the 360 Marina The event featured 16 different sports including volleyball basketball swimming athletics karate and judo and attracted over 1 700 male and female players 581 See also Edit Kuwait portalOutline of Kuwait Index of Kuwait related articlesReferences Edit Kuwait s Constitution of 1962 Reinstated in 1992 PDF Constitute Project Retrieved 31 August 2020 a b Middle East KUWAIT CIA The World Factbook 26 May 2022 a b c Crystal Jill 1994 Kuwait Constitution In Metz Helen Chapin ed Persian Gulf states country studies 3rd ed Federal Research Division Library of Congress pp 84 86 ISBN 0 8444 0793 3 OCLC 29548413 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain a href Template Cite encyclopedia html title Template Cite encyclopedia cite encyclopedia a CS1 maint postscript link Kuwait The World Factbook 2023 ed Central Intelligence Agency Retrieved 8 February 2023 a b c d World Economic Outlook Database October 2022 IMF org International Monetary Fund October 2022 Retrieved 23 November 2022 Human Development Report 2021 2022 PDF United Nations Development Programme 8 September 2022 Retrieved 8 September 2022 Kuwait definition of Kuwait in English Lexico Archived from the original on 22 August 2017 Retrieved 5 May 2017 Definition of Kuwait by Merriam Webster Merriam Webster Archived from the original on 1 May 2017 Retrieved 5 May 2017 a b c d e Kuwait The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency 10 April 2015 Coastline The World Factbook www cia gov Nations United The World s Cities in 2018 Data Booklet PDF United Nations Archived from the original PDF on 15 July 2019 Retrieved 29 March 2021 The Gulf s Stateless People without Rights Decades after Independence Human Rights First Archived from the original on 13 January 2022 Retrieved 10 September 2021 a b c d Kuwait s humanitarian disaster Inter generational erasure ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Bedoon OHCHR 2019 a b THE BEDOONS OF KUWAIT Citizens without Citizenship Human Rights Watch a b Sissakian Varoujan K Adamo Nasrat Al Ansari Nadhir Mukhalad Talal Laue Jan January 2020 Sea Level Changes in the Mesopotamian Plain and Limits of the Arabian Gulf A Critical Review Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering 10 4 88 110 a b Louise Pryke 23 April 2018 In ancient Mesopotamia sex among the gods shook heaven and earth The Conversation a b Mesopotamia History Wise cities in the Mediterranean challenges of urban sustainability Woertz Eckart Ajl Max Barcelona 2018 ISBN 978 84 92511 57 0 OCLC 1117436298 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Contributors Comparative Studies of South Asia Africa and the Middle East 35 2 382 384 2015 doi 10 1215 1089201x 3139815 ISSN 1089 201X OPEC pressures Kuwait to moderate quota demand New Straits Times 7 June 1989 a b 10 Most Valuable Currencies in the World Investopedia 21 March 2012 Archived from the original on 14 March 2021 a b Holes Clive 2004 Modern Arabic Structures Functions and Varieties Georgetown University Press p 75 ISBN 978 1 58901 022 2 HDI of Kuwait is highest in the Arab world Brazil Arab News Agency 2009 Kuwait ranks top among Arab states in human development Kuwait News Agency 2009 The Post glacial Flooding of the Persian Gulf animation and images University of California Santa Barbara a b c d e The Archaeology of Kuwait PDF Cardiff University pp 1 427 a b c d Carter Robert 2019 The Mesopotamian frontier of the Arabian Neolithic A cultural borderland of the sixth fifth millennia BC Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 31 1 69 85 doi 10 1111 aae 12145 Carter Robert 25 October 2010 Maritime Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic The Evidence from H3 As Sabiyah an Ubaid Related Site in Kuwait BRILL ISBN 9789004163591 Carter Robert Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC PDF Carter Robert Maritime Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic The Evidence from H3 As Sabiyah an Ubaid Related Site in Kuwait How Kuwaitis lived more than 8 000 years ago Kuwait Times 25 November 2014 Carter Robert 2002 Ubaid period boat remains from As Sabiyah excavations by the British Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 32 13 30 JSTOR 41223721 Carter Robert Philip Graham Beyond the Ubaid Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East PDF PAM 22 pcma uw edu pl Carter Robert 2011 The Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf Archaeology International 24 3 44 doi 10 5334 ai 0613 Weekes Richard 31 March 2001 Secrets of world s oldest boat are discovered in Kuwait sands The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Retrieved 21 August 2013 a b c Failaka Island Silk Roads Programme UNESCO a b c Traders from Ur Archaeology Magazine Retrieved 21 July 2013 a b c d Kuwait s archaeological sites reflect human history amp civilizations 2 50 3 02 Ministry of Interior News Archived from the original on 19 December 2021 Glassner Jean Jacques Herron Donald M 1990 The Invention of Cuneiform Writing in Sumer Jean Jacques Glassner p 7 ISBN 9780801873898 Nyrop Richard F 2008 Area Handbook for the Persian Gulf States Richard F Nyrop p 11 ISBN 9781434462107 From about 4000 to 2000 B C the civilization of Dilmun dominated 250 miles of the eastern coast of Arabia from present day Kuwait to Bahrain and extended sixty miles into the interior to the oasis of Hufuf see fig 2 a b Calvet Yves 1989 Failaka and the Northern Part of Dilmun Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 19 5 11 JSTOR 41223078 a b Connan Jacques Carter Robert 2007 A geochemical study of bituminous mixtures from Failaka and Umm an Namel Kuwait from the Early Dilmun to the Early Islamic period Jacques Connan Robert Carter 18 2 139 181 doi 10 1111 j 1600 0471 2007 00283 x Jesper Eidema Flemming Hojlund 1993 Trade or diplomacy Assyria and Dilmun in the eighteenth century BC World Archaeology 24 3 441 448 doi 10 1080 00438243 1993 9980218 a b c Sa ad and Sae ed Area in Failaka Island UNESCO Retrieved 28 August 2013 Potts Daniel T Mesopotamian civilization the material foundations 1997 a b Potts D T 2009 Potts 2009 The archaeology and early history of the Persian Gulf p 35 Tetreault Mary Ann Failaka Island Unearthing the Past in Kuwait Middle East Institute Retrieved 21 July 2013 Brill s New Pauly encyclopedia of the ancient world 2007 p 212 Ray Himanshu Prabha Ray 2003 The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia Himanshu Prabha Ray p 101 ISBN 9780521011099 a b Briant Pierre 2002 From Cyrus to Alexander A History of the Persian Empire Pierre Briant p 761 ISBN 9781575061207 a b Bryce Trevor 2009 The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia Trevor Bryce p 198 ISBN 9781134159086 Bonneric Julie 2021 Guest editors foreword Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 32 1 5 doi 10 1111 aae 12195 S2CID 243182467 a b Andreas P Parpas HELLENISTIC IKAROS FAILAKA PDF p 5 Ralph Shaw 1976 Kuwait p 10 ISBN 9780333212479 Limited Walden Publishing 1980 Middle East Annual Review p 241 ISBN 9780904439106 Kilner Peter Wallace Jonathan 1979 The Gulf Handbook Volume 3 p 344 ISBN 9780900751127 Jalalzaʼi Musa Ḵh an 1991 K h alij aur bainulaqvami siyasat p 34 a b c The European Exploration of Kuwait Archived from the original on 23 March 2014 Retrieved 21 July 2013 Makharadze Zurab Kvirkvelia Guram Murvanidze Bidzina Chkhvimiani Jimsher Ad Duweish Sultan Al Mutairi Hamed Lordkipanidze David 2017 Kuwait Georgian Archaeological Mission Archaeological Investigations on the Island of Failaka in 2011 2017 PDF Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences 11 4 178 J Hansamans Charax and the Karkhen Iranica Antiquitua 7 1967 page 21 58 George Fadlo Hourani John Carswell Arab Seafaring In the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times Princeton University Press page 131 a b c d Andreas P Parpas 2016 Naval and Maritime Activities of Alexander the Great in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf pp 62 117 a b c d Hermann Gasche ed 2004 The Persian Gulf shorelines and the Karkheh Karun and Jarrahi Rivers A Geo Archaeological Approach pp 19 54 Andreas P Parpas 2016 The Hellenistic Gulf Greek Naval Presence in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf 324 64 B C p 79 Travel Peter Harrington London PDF Peter Harrington 2017 p 4 J Theodore Bent January 1890 The Bahrein Islands in the Persian Gulf Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography JSTOR 12 1 13 doi 10 2307 1801121 JSTOR 1801121 Farrokh Kaveh 2007 Shadows in the Desert Ancient Persia at War p 124 ISBN 9781846031083 With Babylon and Seleucia secured Mehrdad turned to Charax in southern Mesopotamia modern south Iraq and Kuwait Reade Julian ed 1996 Indian Ocean In Antiquity p 275 ISBN 9781136155314 Hellenism in the East PDF Amelie Kuhrt Susan Sherwin White 1987 To the south of Characene on Failaka the north wall of the fort was pushed forward before occupation ceased around 100 BC Gregoratti Leonardo A Parthian Harbour in the Gulf the Characene p 216 Hill Bennett D Beck Roger B Clare Haru Crowston 2008 A History of World Societies Combined Volume PDF p 165 Archived from the original PDF on 3 December 2013 Centered in the fertile Tigris Euphrates Valley but with access to the Persian Gulf and extending south to Meshan modern Kuwait the Sassanid Empire s economic prosperity rested on agriculture its location also proved well suited for commerce Falk Avner 1996 A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews p 330 ISBN 9780838636602 In 224 he defeated the Parthian army of Ardavan Shah Artabanus V taking Isfahan Kerman Elam Elymais and Meshan Mesene Spasinu Charax or Characene Cohen Abraham 1980 Ancient Jewish Proverbs ISBN 9781465526786 The large and small measures roll down and reach Sheol from Sheol they proceed to Tadmor Palmyra from Tadmor to Meshan Mesene and from Meshan to Harpanya Hipparenum a b Gachet J 1998 Akkaz Kuwait a Site of the Partho Sasanian Period A preliminary report on three campaigns of excavation 1993 1996 Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 28 69 79 JSTOR 41223614 Tell Akkaz in Kuwait The Journal of the American Oriental Society LE TELL D AKKAZ AU KOWEIT TELL AKKAZ IN KUWAIT PDF p 2 Archived from the original PDF on 30 December 2013 Bonneric Julie 2021 A consideration on the interest of a pottery typology adapted to the late Sasanian and early Islamic monastery at al Qusur Kuwait Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 32 70 82 doi 10 1111 aae 12190 S2CID 234836940 a b Reinink Smith Linda Carter Robert 2022 Late Holocene development of Bubiyan Island Kuwait Quaternary Research 109 16 38 Bibcode 2022QuRes 109 16R doi 10 1017 qua 2022 3 S2CID 248250022 a b SCIENCE WATCH Signs of Ancient River The New York Times 30 March 1993 a b The Pishon River Found a b James K Hoffmeier The Archaeology of the Bible Lion Hudson Oxford England 34 35 Carol A Hill The Garden of Eden A Modern Landscape a b Sauer James A July August 1996 The River Runs Dry Creation Story Preserves Historical Memory Biblical Archaeology Review Vol 22 no 4 Biblical Archaeology Society pp 52 54 57 64 Retrieved 17 November 2019 Farouk El Baz A river in the desert Discover July 1993 Ray Kurt 2003 A Historical Atlas of Kuwait The Rosen Publishing Group Inc pp 10 ISBN 9780823939817 a b c Dipiazza Francesca Davis 2008 Kuwait in Pictures Francesca Davis DiPiazza pp 20 21 ISBN 9780822565895 Ulrich Brian Kazimah remembered historical traditions of an early Islamic settlement by Kuwait Bay British Museum Seminar for Arabian Studies Kennet Derek Investigating an Early Islamic Landscape on Kuwait Bay the archaeology of historical Kadhima Durham University Maguer Gillon Sterenn Le Ulrich Brian Kennet Derek Kadhima Kuwait in the early centuries of Islam academia edu The Soft stone from Kadhima evidence for trade connections and domestic activities Kuwait NCCAL Durham University a b c Ulrich Brian January 2013 From Iraq to the Hijaz in the Early Islamic Period History and Archaeology of the Basran Hajj Road and the Way s through Kuwait The Hajj Collected Essays ed Venetia Porter and Liana Saif a b Kennet Derek Blair Andrew Ulrich Brian Al Duwish Sultan M 2011 The Kadhima Project investigating an Early Islamic settlement and landscape on Kuwait Bay Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies jstor org 41 161 172 JSTOR 41622130 Kazimah academia edu Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volumes 9 12 1979 p 53 Although the town of al Hira might have been too far northward to be considered a part of Eastern Arabia it is dealt with here as such because the kingdom of al Hira controlled Kazima Kuwait New field work at Kadhima Kuwait and the archaeology of the Early Islamic period in Eastern Arabia SOAS Archived from the original on 25 November 2018 Retrieved 14 January 2021 Culture in rehabilitation from competency to proficiency Jeffrey L Crabtree Abdul Matin Royeen 2006 p 194 During the early Islamic period Kazima had become a very famous fertile area and served as a trading stations for travelers in the region Kadhima an Early Islamic settlement and landscape on Kuwait Bay Durham University Archived from the original on 19 October 2013 Retrieved 28 July 2013 a b Farazdaq center lauds Info Min care for youth Kuwait News Agency 22 May 2014 a b c d e Hidden Christian Community Archaeology Magazine Retrieved 28 August 2013 a b Christianity in the Arab Persian Gulf an ancient but still obscure history Julie Bonneric Vincent Bernard and Jean Francois Salles Discovery of a Christian Church at Al Qusur Failaka Kuwait Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 21 1991 7 21 Vincent Bernard Olivier Callot and Jean Francois Salles L eglise d al Qousour Failaka Etat de Koweit Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 2 1991 145 181 Yves Calvet Monuments paleo chretiens a Koweit et dans la region du Golfe Symposium Syriacum Uppsala University Department of Asian and African Languages 11 14 August 1996 Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256 Rome 1998 671 673 Kuwait Prosperity from a Sea of Oil G Aloun Klaum 1980 p 30 Gibb Sir H A R 1980 The Encyclopaedia of Islam Sir H A R Gibb p 572 ISBN 9004064710 a b Casey Michael 2007 The history of Kuwait Greenwood histories of modern nations Greenwood ISBN 978 0313340734 Al Jassar Mohammad Khalid A May 2009 Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City The Socio cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya PhD thesis The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee p 64 ISBN 978 1 109 22934 9 Retrieved 27 May 2017 dead link a b Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf Vol I Historical Part IA amp IB J G Lorimer 1915 1001 1156 1782 qdl qa 30 September 2014 p 1000 Retrieved 16 January 2015 a b Bell Gawain Sir 1983 Shadows on the Sand The Memoirs of Sir Gawain Bell C Hurst p 222 ISBN 978 0 905838 92 2 ʻAlam i Nisvaṉ University of Karachi 1995 p 18 Archived from the original on 24 February 2018 Kuwait became an important trading port for import and export of goods from India Africa and Arabia a b Al Jassar Mohammad Khalid A May 2009 Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City The Socio cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya PhD thesis The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee p 66 Retrieved 27 May 2017 dead link a b Bennis Phyllis Moushabeck Michel eds 1991 Beyond the Storm A Gulf Crisis Reader Brooklyn New York Olive Branch Press p 42 ISBN 978 0 940793 82 8 Lauterpacht Elihu Greenwood C J Weller Marc 1991 The Kuwait Crisis Basic Documents Cambridge international documents series Issue 1 Cambridge UK Research Centre for International Law Cambridge University Press p 4 ISBN 978 0 521 46308 9 Lauterpacht E Greenwood C J Weller Marc Bethlehem Daniel 1991 The Kuwait Crisis Basic Documents p 4 ISBN 9780521463089 a b Al Jassar Mohammad Khalid A May 2009 Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City The Socio cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya PhD thesis The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee p 67 Retrieved 27 May 2017 dead link a b Abdullah Thabit A J 2001 Merchants Mamluks and Murder The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth Century Basra Albany New York State University of New York Press p 72 ISBN 978 0 7914 4807 6 a b Al Jassar Mohammad Khalid A Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City The Socio cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya PhD thesis The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee p 68 Retrieved 27 May 2017 dead link Hasan Mohibbul 2007 Waqai i manazil i Rum Tipu Sultan s mission to Constantinople Mohibbul Hasan p 18 ISBN 9788187879565 For owing to Basra s misfortunes Kuwait and Zubarah became rich Fattah Hala Mundhir 1997 The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq Arabia and the Gulf 1745 1900 Hala Mundhir Fattah p 114 ISBN 9780791431139 The impact of economic activities on the social and political structures of Kuwait 1896 1946 PDF p 108 Donaldson Neil 2008 The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia and the Gulf Neil Donaldson p 93 ISBN 9781409209423 a b c Mary Bruins Allison 1994 Doctor Mary in Arabia Memoirs University of Texas Press p 1 ISBN 9780292704565 Goston Ga bor A Masters Bruce Alan 2009 Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire p 321 ISBN 9781438110257 Agius Dionisius A 2012 Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman People of the Dhow Dionisius A Agius p 48 ISBN 9781136201820 a b Fattah Hala Mundhir 1997 The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq Arabia and the Gulf 1745 1900 Hala Mundhir Fattah p 181 ISBN 9780791431139 Potter L 2009 The Persian Gulf in History Lawrence G Potter p 272 ISBN 9780230618459 Lord of Arabia H C Armstrong 1905 pp 18 19 Archived from the original on 7 January 2021 Retrieved 19 March 2021 Part II Chapter VI Broeze Frank ed 1997 Kuwait before Oil The Dynamics and Morphology of an Arab Port City Gateways of Asia Port Cities of Asia in the 13th 20th Centuries ISBN 9781136168956 Busch 337 a b c d e f Crystal Jill 1995 Oil and Politics in the Gulf Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar Jill Crystal p 37 ISBN 9780521466356 a b c Mary Ann Tetreault 1995 The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the Economics of the New World Order pp 2 3 ISBN 9780899305103 Lea David 2001 A Political Chronology of the Middle East p 142 ISBN 9781857431155 a b Scudder Lewis R 1998 The Arabian Mission s Story In Search of Abraham s Other Son p 104 ISBN 9780802846167 a b Toth Anthony B 2005 Losses in the Saudi and Iraqi Struggles over Kuwait s Frontiers 1921 1943 British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 32 2 145 67 doi 10 1080 13530190500281424 JSTOR 30037690 S2CID 154636834 Global Art Forum 26 12 28 12 Sulayman Al Bassam Archived from the original on 19 December 2021 Casey Michael S 2007 The History of Kuwait pp 54 55 ISBN 9780313340734 a b Khalif Hussein Tareekh Al Kuwait Al Siyasi p 221 a b c d e f Al Jassar Mohammad Khalid A May 2009 Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City The Socio cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya PhD thesis The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee p 80 Retrieved 27 May 2017 dead link a b c d e Casey Michael S 2007 The History of Kuwait Westport Connecticut Greenwood Publishing Group p 57 ISBN 978 0 313 34073 4 a b c d e f g h Mechanisms of Western Domination A Short History of Iraq and Kuwait California State University Northridge a b Batatu Hanna 1978 The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq A Study of Iraq s Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of its Communists Ba athists and Free Officers Princeton p 189 a b c Al Sager Noura ed 2014 Acquiring Modernity Kuwait s Modern Era Between Memory and Forgetting National Council for Culture Arts and Letters p 7 ISBN 9789990604238 a b Al Nakib Farah 2014 Al Nakib Farah ed Kuwait s Modernity Between Memory and Forgetting Academia edu 7 Archived from the original on 6 August 2017 a b Farid Alia 2014 Acquiring Modernity Kuwait at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition aliafarid net Archived from the original on 30 October 2016 Retrieved 27 May 2017 Gonzales Desi November December 2014 Acquiring Modernity Kuwait at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition Art Papers Archived from the original on 24 December 2014 Retrieved 21 February 2015 Tsourapas Gerasimos 2 July 2016 Nasser s Educators and Agitators across al Watan al Arabi Tracing the Foreign Policy Importance of Egyptian Regional Migration 1952 1967 PDF British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 43 3 324 341 doi 10 1080 13530194 2015 1102708 ISSN 1353 0194 S2CID 159943632 Archived from the original PDF on 20 July 2018 Retrieved 10 July 2019 Bourisly Nibal K Al hajji Maher N 2004 Kuwait s National Day Four Decades of Transformed Celebrations In Fuller Linda K ed National Days national Ways Historical Political and Religious Celebrations Around the World Greenwood Publishing Group pp 125 126 ISBN 9780275972707 Archived from the original on 14 February 2017 Retrieved 23 February 2018 a b James Paul amp Martin Spirit Robinson Peter 2008 Kuwait The first crisis 1961 Riots Rebellions Gunboats and Peacekeepers Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 17 January 2010 Mobley Richard A 2007 2008 Gauging the Iraqi Threat to Kuwait in the 1960s UK Indications and Warning Central Intelligence Agency Archived from the original on 24 March 2010 Retrieved 17 January 2010 Helene von Bismarck The Kuwait Crisis of 1961 and its Consequences for Great Britain s Persian Gulf Policy in British Scholar vol II no 1 September 2009 pp 75 96 Helene von Bismarck The Kuwait Crisis of 1961 and its Consequences for Great Britain s Persian Gulf Policy British Scholar vol II no 1 September 2009 pp 75 96 Independence for Kuwait UK protection withdrawn The Guardian June 20 1961 Brown Harry October 1994 The Iraq Kuwait boundary dispute historical background and the UN decisions of 1992 and 1993 IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin Archived from the original on 9 October 2020 Retrieved 1 April 2020 US diplomatic cable mentioning the incident Looking for Origins of Arab Modernism in Kuwait Hyperallergic Archived from the original on 11 July 2015 Al Nakib Farah 1 March 2014 Towards an Urban Alternative for Kuwait Protests and Public Participation Built Environment 40 1 101 117 doi 10 2148 benv 40 1 101 a b c d Cultural developments in Kuwait March 2013 Archived from the original on 24 February 2018 Retrieved 27 May 2017 Chee Kong Sam 1 March 2014 What Can Nations Learn from Norway and Kuwait in Managing Sovereign Wealth Funds Market Oracle Archived from the original on 13 September 2014 Retrieved 16 November 2014 al Nakib Farah 17 September 2014 Understanding Modernity A Review of the Kuwait Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Jadaliyya Archived from the original on 29 November 2014 a b Sajjad Valiya S Kuwait Literary Scene A Little Complex Arab Times Archived from the original on 29 November 2014 A magazine Al Arabi was published in 1958 in Kuwait It was the most popular magazine in the Arab world It came out it in all the Arabic countries and about a quarter million copies were published every month Gunter Barrie Dickinson Roger eds 2013 News Media in the Arab World A Study of 10 Arab and Muslim Countries New York Bloomsbury Publishing USA p 24 ISBN 978 1 4411 0239 3 Sager Abdulaziz Koch Christian Tawfiq Ibrahim Hasanain eds 2008 Gulf Yearbook 2006 2007 I B Tauris p 39 The Kuwaiti press has always enjoyed a level of freedom unparalleled in any other Arab country Muslim Education Quarterly Vol 8 Islamic Academy 1990 p 61 Kuwait is a primary example of a Muslim society which embraced liberal and Western attitudes throughout the sixties and seventies Rubin Barry ed 2010 Guide to Islamist Movements Vol 1 Armonk New York M E Sharpe p 306 ISBN 978 0 7656 4138 0 Wheeler Deborah L 2006 The Internet in the Middle East Global Expectations And Local Imaginations Albany New York State University of New York Press p 99 ISBN 978 0 7914 6586 8 KUWAIT S MARKET BAILOUT New York Times 18 February 1983 KUWAIT IN BAILOUT EFFORT AFTER MARKET COLLAPSES The New York Times 25 December 1982 KUWAIT S BUSTLING STOCK SOUK The New York Times 5 April 1982 Kuwait Losses Affect Bahrain The New York Times 10 April 1983 Bansal Narottam P Singh Jitendra P Ko Song Castro Ricardo Pickrell Gary Manjooran Navin Jose Nair Mani Singh Gurpreet eds 1 July 2013 Processing and Properties of Advanced Ceramics and Composites Vol 240 Hoboken New Jersey John Wiley amp Sons p 205 ISBN 978 1 118 74411 6 Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait 1990 Acig org Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Retrieved 28 June 2010 a b Gregory Derek 2004 The Colonial Present Afghanistan Palestine Iraq Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1 57718 090 6 Retrieved 28 June 2010 Iraq and Kuwait 1972 1990 1991 1997 Earthshots Satellite Images of Environmental Change Archived from the original on 29 April 2012 Retrieved 14 January 2013 Iraq and Kuwait Discuss Fate of 600 Missing Since Gulf War Los Angeles Times Associated Press 9 January 2003 Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Hicks Neil 1 January 1992 Kuwait Building the Rule of Law Human Rights in Kuwait ISBN 9780934143493 a b c Mideast situation Middle East Watch Report Letter from Palestine United Nations 1991 a b Human Rights Watch World Report 1993 Kuwait Human Rights Watch 1993 a b c d Kuwait Laws and Policies of Ethnic Discrimination Erasure and Genocide Against The Bedoon Minority Submission on Human Rights Protections for Minorities Recognised in the UN System Susan Kennedy Nour al Deen 2020 a b c Susan Kennedy Nour al Deen 2018 The Bedoun Archive A public archive created for the northern tribes Bedouin of Kuwait Education as Change 22 2 doi 10 25159 1947 9417 3435 S2CID 240259439 a b House of Commons Hansard Debates for 23 Oct 1995 Parliament Publications House of Commons of the United Kingdom 23 October 1995 EASO Country of Origin Information Report Iraq Targeting of Individuals PDF European Asylum Support Office pp 149 150 Charlie Dunmore and Edith Champagne in Basra Iraq 10 October 2019 Citizenship hopes become reality for Iraq s Bidoon minority UNCHR a b c d e f Helal Ahmed 18 November 2020 Kuwait s fiscal crisis requires bold reforms Atlantic Council Kuwait ranks top among Arab states in human development UNDP report KUNA 2009 Archived from the original on 12 August 2016 Human Development Index 2009 PDF Human Development Report hdr undp org p 143 Archived PDF from the original on 13 May 2014 Human Development Index 2007 2008 PDF Human Development Report p 233 Archived PDF from the original on 15 April 2014 Human Development Index 2006 PDF Human Development Report p 283 Archived PDF from the original on 10 March 2016 a b China grants Kuwait highest investment quota Investvine 21 January 2013 Retrieved 5 February 2013 a b Kuwait highest in closing gender gap WEF Retrieved 15 June 2016 a b The Global Gender Gap Index 2014 World Economic Forum World Economic Forum Archived from the original on 14 April 2017 a b Global Gender Gap Index Results in 2015 World Economic Forum Archived from the original on 5 June 2016 a b c Kuwait Extremism and Terrorism Counter Extremism Project www counterextremism com a b Kuwait ally on Syria is also the leading funder of extremist rebels The Washington Post a b How our allies in Kuwait and Qatar funded Islamic State www telegraph co uk Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 a b David Andrew Weinberg 16 January 2014 New Kuwaiti Justice Minister Has Deep Extremist Ties a b William Mauldin U S Calls Qatar Kuwait Lax Over Terror Financing The Wall Street Journal 23 October 2014 a b Pall Zoltan Kuwaiti Salafism and Its Growing Influence in the Levant Mary Ann Tetreault November 2001 Frankenstein s Lament in Kuwait a b Dickinson Elizabeth Playing with Fire Why Private Gulf Financing for Syria s Extremist Rebels Risks Igniting Sectarian Conflict at Home Rogin Josh 14 June 2014 America s Allies Are Funding ISIS The Daily Beast a b The Terrorist Funding Disconnect with Qatar and Kuwait The Washington Institute تفجير مسجد الصادق رفض إلزام الحكومة تعويض المتضررين in Arabic 4 September 2018 حكم نهائي ي خلي مسؤولية الحكومة الكويتية من تعويض متضرري تفجير مسجد الإمام الصادق صحيفة الأحساء نيوز in Arabic 4 September 2018 UPDATE 1 Kuwait closes 2019 2020 fiscal year with 18 bln deficit finance ministry Reuters 30 August 2020 Kuwait Projects MEED 2021 Sea City achieves the impossible The Worldfolio March 2016 Archived from the original on 20 December 2016 Tamdeen Group s US 700 million Al Khiran development to bolster Kuwait s retail and tourism growth Tamdeen Group Archived from the original on 20 December 2016 Heialy Yasmin 26 June 2016 Kuwait Multi billion Sea City ready in 25 years Construction Week Online Jones D A Nithyanandan M Williams I 4 June 2012 Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City Kuwait development of a sustainable man made coastal ecosystem in a saline desert Aquatic Ecosystem Health amp Management 15 84 92 doi 10 1080 14634988 2012 663706 S2CID 83932029 Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City Khiran Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research International Monetary Fund 1 January 2000 Overall Fiscal Balance for General Government for Kuwait FRED Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis Retrieved 12 September 2021 Cash strapped Kuwait struggles with paying government salaries AW Retrieved 12 September 2021 Ismail Numan Telci Mehmet Rakipoglu 17 July 2021 Hedging as a Survival Strategy for Small States The Case of Kuwait All Azimuth 10 2 213 229 doi 10 20991 allazimuth 960945 Trade with China worth USD 19 billion Kuwait News Agency KUNA 23 March 2020 Chaziza Mordechai 19 July 2020 China s Strategic Partnership with Kuwait New Opportunities for the Belt and Road Initiative Contemporary Review of the Middle East 7 4 501 519 doi 10 1177 2347798920940081 S2CID 225578218 Kuwait China seek to link vision with initiative Kuwait News Agency KUNA 19 November 2018 a b Foreign Trade in Figures Kuwait s imports from China decline 13 in two months Zawya 23 March 2020 a b CGGC completes Kuwait Residential City infrastructure work Zawya 8 March 2021 a b Warrier Ranju 12 March 2021 CGGC completes main works at Kuwait s Al Mutlaa Residential City project Construction Week a b Dadlani Disha 14 June 2020 China s CGGC prioritises health at Kuwait s Al Mutlaa project Construction Week Warrier Ranju 26 October 2020 CGGC delivers plots for 12 177 units at Kuwait s Al Mutlaa Project Construction Week Eyeing the private sector Gulf Construction 1 June 2021 a b c d Phase One of Kuwait s BRI Backed US 130 Billion Silk City Opens Hong Kong Trade Development Council 10 June 2019 a b Sheikh Jaber Bridge to give impetus to Kuwait s 2035 vision in northern region KUNA The Long Bridge to Silk City NASA Earth Observatory 8 September 2019 a b c Kuwait National Cultural District a b c d e Kuwait National Cultural District Museums Director PDF 28 August 2017 Archived from the original PDF on 25 January 2018 New details emerge about Kuwait s new cultural district Gulf Construction 1 July 2015 Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre New Kuwait a b c RLA hailed for expertise on Kuwait development Hospitality Net 23 February 2021 In 2020 domestic travel and tourism spending for Kuwait reached 6 1bn up from 1 6bn with family tourism a rapidly growing segment Cash strapped Kuwait struggles with paying government salaries The Arab Weekly 19 August 2020 a b c Ellis Eric 30 April 2021 Financial markets Is it too late for Kuwait Euromoney Kuwait facing immediate crisis as it seeks cash to plug deficit Arabian Business 3 February 2021 Oil rich Kuwait faces looming debt crisis Al Jazeera 24 November 2020 a b Kuwait s fractious politics undermine much needed fiscal measures MEI 11 March 2021 Kuwait emir urges MPs to end conflict and help tackle liquidity crunch The New Arab 15 December 2020 Kuwait swears in new emir after Sheikh Sabah s death Aljazeera Retrieved 30 September 2020 Sheikh Meshaal sworn in as Kuwait s new crown prince Middle East Al Jazeera 8 October 2020 Retrieved 16 October 2020 MacDonald Fiona 19 June 2021 This 600 Billion Wealth Fund Got Caught in a Power Struggle Bloomberg News Freer Courtney 30 April 2021 Political Gridlock Is Damaging the Kuwaiti Economy World Politics Review Kuwait Credit Rating Cut for Second Time in Two Years by S amp P Bloomberg 16 July 2021 a b c d e Factbox U S forces in Gulf region and Iraq 8 January 2020 Bubiyan island Kuwait Encyclopaedia Britannica Archived from the original on 10 December 2008 Retrieved 28 June 2010 link h, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.