Country Profiles
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Kuwait
Kuwait is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south. With a coastline of approximately 311 miles, Kuwait also shares a maritime border with Iran.
Maps & Flag
Most of Kuwait’s population reside in the urban agglomeration of Kuwait City, the capital city. As of 2024, had a population of 4.91 million, of which 1.54 million were Kuwaiti citizens; the remaining 3.36 million were foreign nationals from a multitude of countries.
Introduction
Kuwait’s long-term economic outlook remains heavily reliant on hydrocarbon revenues. While the Kuwait Investment Authority’s (KIA) substantial foreign assets safeguard macroeconomic stability, they are insufficient to fully mitigate the impact of global oil market volatility and the expected decline in long-term oil demand. As the World Bank (2024a) sum up the current economic situation:
As one of the world’s smallest yet richest countries, a comprehensive fiscal and economic reform is necessary to support sustainable growth and address structural challenges. With oil and gas comprising over 90 per cent of exports and government revenue, Kuwait’s economy is lagging in diversification and foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction. A further moderation in economic activity is anticipated in 2024, with stabilisation expected over the medium term. OPEC+ production cuts, weaker global conditions, and subdued domestic demand weigh on growth. Key risks to the outlook include global uncertainties, oil market volatility, and the ongoing political deliberations on critical reforms, where progress is anticipated
as efforts toward resolution continue.
According to the World Bank (2024a), key challenges facing Kuwait include “the risks from fluctuating oil production and prices, potential global economic slowdown, and increasing climate-related shocks.” Historically, frequent governmental changes and tensions between Kuwait’s executive and legislative branches weighed on the investment environment and hindered the reform process. With the appointment of a new government in May 2024, resolving the political gridlock will be crucial for advancing economic diversification and reform efforts. Kuwait’s government is navigating those challenges amid oil receipts fluctuations and increasing expenditures, with ongoing non-oil revenue generation playing a critical role. Prudent fiscal management remains crucial in navigating the uncertainties of the global economic environment, and in achieving a resilient and diversified economic structure. Environmental priorities, including water resource management and energy efficiency, are being addressed through investments in sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy. Although favorable oil receipts may provide short-term fiscal relief.
Political-Economy
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2023 Democracy Index ranks Kuwait 114th out of 167 countries and territories, a worsening of three places compared with the 2022 index (EIU, 2024). According to the UK think-tank, Kuwait’s score has deteriorated to 3.50 out of 10, from 3.83 in 2022, “driven primarily by a sharp fall in the political participation score.” Kuwait then is categorised as an “authoritarian” regime as are all other of its Arabian Gulf neighbours. That being said, the EIU do state that “Kuwait has a more open polity than most of its fellow GCC states, and ranks the highest among them as a result.” [1]
Freedom House (2024) states that Kuwait is ruled by the Sabah family by way of a constitutional monarchy. While the monarchy holds executive power and dominates most state institutions, the elected parliament plays an influential role, often challenging the government. State authorities impose some constraints on civil liberties, including speech and assembly. However, in May of 2024, Kuwait’s new Emir — Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah — dissolved the country’s parliament and took over some of its duties in the weeks after the latest set of elections. According to LeBaron (2024), “hardly anyone noticed” and what followed was the royal family assuming some powers of the 50-member National Assembly. LeBaron (2024) added that the governments in the the other Arabian Gulf countries have been silent, perhaps “quietly pleased that Kuwait’s longtime experience with a parliament with some genuine power has been quashed for the moment.”
Human Rights Watch state that:
Kuwaiti authorities continue to use provisions in the constitution, the national security law, and the country’s cybercrime law to restrict free speech and prosecute dissidents, particularly focusing on comments made on social media. Kuwait is falling behind on reforming its kafala (labour sponsorship) system, which leaves migrant workers vulnerable to abuse and forced labor. The Bidoon, a community of stateless people who claim Kuwaiti nationality, remain in legal limbo while the government resorts to coercion and penalises peaceful community activism.
Graphs & Tables
What follows are a selection of graphs and tables from credible and cited sources. It is worth comparing Kuwait’s data (see below) with those of the other five Arabian Gulf countries.
Regarding Kuwait, Reporters Without Boarders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) states that despite its reputation as the least repressive country in the Arabian Gulf, it “exercises a great deal of control over news and information, which increased at the end of the reign of Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah and under the reign of his successor, Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, in 2023.” Many subjects are taboo in Kuwait. It is particularly difficult for journalists to tackle migrant worker rights, women’s rights and corruption.
Since 2020, the law on the right to access information is supposed to safeguard the work of journalists in Kuwait. But in reality, the law is thwarted by censorship laws that prohibit journalists, bloggers and online activists from criticising the government, the emir, the ruling family, its allies or religion. The same is true for the cybercrime law that took effect in January 2016. In sum, the Kuwaiti government exercises a significant degree of control over information, and freedom of expression remains limited, although many members of Kuwait’s opposition in exile were recently pardoned.
Press freedom in Kuwait
Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index analyses the transformation processes toward democracy in transitional economies across the globe. In 2024 it was stated that throughout MENA, “autocratic rule festers” and that MENA’s scores for democracy and the quality of governance are at “all-time lows” and that “the quality of governance is deteriorating, and military forces are gaining power.” The German Non-governmental organisation adds that many countries within this region on “flashy imagery and marketing under the banner of modernisation, rather than making actual progress (BTI, 2024).
Kuwait’s 2024 BTI scores
Expand Chart →
Kuwait’s 2024 BTI matrix:
Kuwait’s 2022 BTI matrix:
Kuwait’s 2020 BTI matrix:
Kuwait’s 2018 BTI matrix:
Fraser Institute rankings
The Fraser Institute’s Human Freedom Index presents a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint.
Kuwait, Human Freedom Index, 2024 scores
Freedom House rankings
Freedom House point out that their Freedom in the World annual rankings are “the most widely read and cited report of its kind, tracking global trends in political rights and civil liberties for over 50 years.” They chart Global Freedom scores and Internet Freedom scores for some 210 countries and territories. More latterly, Freedom House have begun to chart Internet Freedom scores (currently 70 countries are tracked, of which three are in the Arabian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).
Kuwait, Freedom in the World, 2024 scores
notes
Country profile information is compiled from, amongst others, the following sources; a full References list for this page is also given below:
Academic
Cambridge University Press →
Elsevier 
Intellect Discover →
Oxford Academic →
Routledge →
Sage →
Springer →
Media outlets
The Economist Intelligence Unit →
Financial Times →
Middle East Economic Digest →
Organisations
Arab Monetary Fund →
Bertelsmann Transformation Index →
Energy Information Agency →
Energy Institute →
Eurostat →
Fraser Institute →
Freedom House →
International Energy Agency →
International Monetary Fund →
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries →
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development →
Reporters sans frontières →
United Nations Development Program →
Varieties of Democracy →
The World Bank →
World Economic Forum →
World Intellectual Property Organisation →
World Trade Organisation →
References
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The Six GCC Economies:
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| i | This is the website of Dr Emilie J. Rutledge who, with almost two decades’ worth of experience in managing, designing and delivering university-level economics courses, is currently Head of the Economics Department at The Open University.
 erutledge.com  Dr Emilie J. Rutledge Emilie has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and is the author of “Monetary Union in the Gulf.” Her current research focus is on employability, the feasibility of universal basic incomes and, the oil-rich Arabian Gulf’s economic diversification and labour market reform strategies. On an ad hoc basis, Emilie provides consultancy on developing interactive university courses, alongside analytical insight on the political-economy of the Arabian Gulf. |