Kuwait (country)

C

Education

Oil revenues have allowed Kuwait to build an extensive educational system, yielding a literacy rate of 84 percent. Public school is free and compulsory from the age of 6 to 13, and several private schools also teach this age group. Kuwait University (founded in 1966) is also free and offers programs in a wide range of professional and scientific fields at several campuses. Both the extensive library system at Kuwait University and the collection at Kuwait National Museum (1957) were heavily damaged and looted during the Iraqi occupation in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

D

Society

Kuwait offers free medical care to all residents, including citizens of other countries. The government also provides several other benefits, including housing subsidies, without levying taxes. As a result, many Kuwaitis depend on the government for support, but poverty, unemployment, and crime are low by global standards. However, affluence and rapid change have brought their own difficulties. By hiring many foreign workers, Kuwaitis have made themselves a minority in their own country. Relations between Kuwaitis and immigrants are sometimes strained, and foreigners often complain of unfair treatment in the workplace. Obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship is extremely difficult, further widening the gulf between the two groups. Among Kuwaitis, the rapid expansion of educational opportunities, wealth, and foreign travel has led many older people to feel estranged from the younger generation.

Kuwaitis tend to have strong attachments to their families. A house is designed to show little to the outside world, and often has a nearby structure, called a diwaniyya, for receiving guests. Men spend much of their evenings in the diwaniyyas with friends and associates while women are usually inside the house. In large part because cultural life is centered around home and diwaniyya, there are few theaters or other places of public entertainment.

Most Kuwaiti men wear a modified form of traditional gown called the dishdasha along with Arab headdress. Kuwaiti women wear a wide variety of clothing, from jeans to loosely fitting gowns and head coverings. Foreigners tend to dress the way they would in their home countries, although more revealing clothing, such as shorts, is frowned upon. Thanks to the large immigrant population, many types of food are available in Kuwait, especially Lebanese and Indian food. In accordance with Islamic teaching, alcohol and pork products are banned. Team sports, especially soccer, are popular in Kuwait. Many Kuwaitis also enjoy maritime sports such as sailing, yachting, and fishing.

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IV

Economy

Kuwait is one of the world’s richest countries per capita. Its initial prosperity was founded almost completely on oil reserves, which, at an estimated 104 billion barrels (2006), is roughly 8 percent of the world’s total. Over time, however, Kuwait used oil earnings to make large investments abroad. By 1990 the country earned more from foreign investment than from oil exports. The expenses of the Iraqi invasion and postwar reconstruction placed a heavy economic burden on the country, but by the mid-1990s Kuwait had resumed its preinvasion prosperity. Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2005 was $80.8 billion, giving Kuwait a per capita GDP of $31,860.60. The labor force totals 1,374,111 people, only about one-quarter of whom are Kuwaiti citizens.

A

Oil Industry

Because the government owns the oil industry, it controls most of the economy—in all, about 75 percent of the GDP. Kuwait’s oil exports vary depending on internal needs (almost all of Kuwait’s energy is derived from oil), international demand and prices, and production quotas fixed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which Kuwait is a member. OPEC’s quotas, however, are difficult to enforce, and Kuwait and other countries have been accused of violating them. In 2004 oil production was 795 million barrels.

B

Foreign Trade

While efforts have been made to encourage local agriculture and industry, Kuwait imports most products, including a wide range of food and manufactured goods. Imports totaled $7.9 billion in 2001, while exports amounted to $16.2 billion. Leading purchasers of Kuwait’s exports are Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Singapore; chief sources for imports are the United States, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

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