Background: Britain oversaw foreign relations and defense for the ruling Kuwaiti AL-SABAH dynasty from 1899 until independence in 1961. Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment a US-led UN coalition began a ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91. The AL-SABAH family has ruled since returning to power in 1991 and reestablished an elected legislature that in recent years has become increasingly assertive. The country witnessed the historic election in May 2009 of four women to its National Assembly. Amid the 2010-11 uprisings and protests across the Arab world stateless Arabs known as bidoon staged small protests in February and March 2011 demanding citizenship jobs and other benefits available to Kuwaiti nationals. Youth activist groups - supported by opposition legislators and the prime minister's rivals within the ruling family - rallied repeatedly in 2011 for an end to corruption and the ouster of the prime minister and his cabinet. Opposition legislators forced the prime minister to resign in late 2011. In October and November 2012 Kuwait witnessed unprecedented protests in response to the Amir's changes to the electoral law reducing the number of votes per person from four to one. The oppostion led by a coalition of Sunni Islamists tribalists some liberals and a myriad of youth groups boycotted the Decemeber 2012 legislative election resulting in a historic number of seats won by Shia candidates. Since 2006 the Amir has dissolved the National Assembly on five occasions (the Constitutional Court dissolved the Assembly once in June 2012) and reshuflled the cabinet 12 times usually citing political stagnation and gridlock between the l

Geographic coordinates: 29 30 N 45 45 E

Area
Rank: 158
Comparative: slightly smaller than New Jersey

Coastline: 499 km

Climate: dry desert; intensely hot summers; short cool winters

Terrain: flat to slightly undulating desert plain

Natural resources: petroleum fish shrimp natural gas

Irrigated land: 100 km² (2003)

Total renewable water resources: 0.02 km³ (1997)

Natural hazards: sudden cloudbursts are common from October to April and bring heavy rain which can damage roads and houses; sandstorms and dust storms occur throughout the year but are most common between March and August

Geography
Note: strategic location at head of Persian Gulf

Population: 2,646,314 (July 2012 est.)
Rank: 140
Growth rate: 1.883%
Growth rate rank: 63
Below poverty line: NA%

Ethnic groups: Kuwaiti 45% other Arab 35% South Asian 9% Iranian 4% other 7%

Languages: Arabic (official) English widely spoken

Religions: Muslim (official) 85% (Sunni 70% Shia 30%) other (includes Christian Hindu Parsi) 15%

Population growth rate: 1.883%
Rank: 63

Birth rate: 20.96 births/1000 population (2012 est.)
Rank: 82

Death rate: 2.13 deaths/1000 population (July 2012 est.)
Rank: 222

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (2012 est.)
Rank: 92

Environment
Current issues: limited natural freshwater resources; some of world's largest and most sophisticated desalination facilities provide much of the water; air and water pollution; desertification

Infant mortality rate
Rank: 158

Life expectancy at birth
Rank: 67

Total fertility rate: 2.6 children born/woman (2012 est.)
Rank: 80

Physicians density: 1.793 physicians/1000 population (2009)

Sanitation facility access:

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.1% (2001 est.)
Adult prevalence rate rank: 135
People living with hivaids: NA (2007 est.)
Deaths: NA

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 28.8% (2000)
Rank: 9

Education expenditures: 3.8% of GDP (2006)
Rank: 111

Government type: constitutional emirate

Administrative divisions: 6 governorates (muhafazat singular - muhafazah); Al Ahmadi Al 'Asimah Al Farwaniyah Al Jahra' Hawalli Mubarak al Kabir

Independence: 19 June 1961 (from the UK)

National holiday: National Day 25 February (1950)

Constitution: approved and promulgated 11 November 1962

Legal system: mixed legal system consisting of English common law French civil law and Islamic religious law

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Suffrage: 21 years of age; universal; note - males in the military or police are by law not allowed to vote; all voters must have been citizens for 20 years

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-Umma (66 seats - 50 members elected by popular vote plus 16 cabinet ministers appointed by the prime minister as ex officio voting members; elected members serve four-year terms); note - the National Assembly was dissolved on 7 October 2012

Judicial branch: High Court of Appeal

Political parties and leaders: none; formation of political parties is in practice illegal but is not forbidden by law

International organization participation: ABEDA AfDB (nonregional member) AFESD AMF BDEAC CAEU CD FAO G-77 GCC IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC (national committees) ICRM IDA IDB IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC (NGOs) LAS MIGA NAM OAPEC OIC OPCW OPEC Paris Club (associate) PCA UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UNRWA UNWTO UPU WCO WFTU (NGOs) WHO WIPO WMO WTO

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of green (top) white and red with a black trapezoid based on the hoist side; colors and design are based on the Arab Revolt flag of World War I; green represents fertile fields white stands for purity red denotes blood on Kuwaiti swords black signifies the defeat of the enemy

National symbols: golden falcon

Economy overview: Kuwait has a geographically small but wealthy relatively open economy with crude oil reserves of about 102 billion barrels - about 7% of world reserves. Petroleum accounts for nearly half of GDP 95% of export revenues and 95% of government income. Kuwaiti officials have committed to increasing oil production to 4 million barrels per day by 2020. The rise in global oil prices throughout 2011 and 2012 is reviving government consumption and economic growth. Kuwait has experienced a 20% increase in government budget revenue which has led to higher budget expenditures particularly wage hikes for many public sector employees. Kuwait has done little to diversify its economy in part because of this positive fiscal situation and in part due to the poor business climate and the historically acrimonious relationship between the National Assembly and the executive branch which has stymied most movement on economic reforms. In 2010 Kuwait passed an economic development plan that pledges to spend up to $130 billion over five years to diversify the economy away from oil attract more investment and boost private sector participation in the economy.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 60

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 35

Real gdp per capita:
Rank: 16

Agriculture products: fish

Industrial production growth rate: 8.7% (2011 est.)
Rank: 21

Labor force: 2.304 million
Rank: 115

Unemployment rate: 2.2% (2004 est.)
Rank: 17

Population below poverty line: NA%

Budget
Surplus or deficit: 21.6% of GDP (2012 est.)
Surplus or deficit rank: 2

Taxes and other revenues: 61.2% of GDP (2012 est.)
Rank: 10

Public debt: 7.5% of GDP (2011 est.)
Rank: 145

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Inflation rate consumer prices: 4.7% (2011 est.)
Rank: 88

Central bank discount rate: 3% (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 104

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 5.2% (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 155

Stock of narrow money: $23.8 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 59

Stock of broad money: $99.89 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 53

Stock of domestic credit: $91.48 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 54

Market value of publicly traded shares:
Rank: 39

Current account balance: $70.78 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 8

Exports: $104.3 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 38
Commodities: oil and refined products fertilizers
Partners: South Korea 17.7% India 15.3% Japan 13.7% China 9.6% US 8.4% (2011)

Imports: $21.96 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 69
Commodities: food construction materials vehicles and parts clothing
Partners: US 12.4% China 9.7% Saudi Arabia 8.4% South Korea 6.5% India 6.4% Japan 6.2% Germany 5% UAE 4.3% (2011)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $25.91 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 51

Debt external: $29.87 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 72

Stock of direct foreign investment at home: $2.764 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 89

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: $48.39 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 34

Exchange rates:

Electricity
Production: 51.32 billion kWh (2010 est.)
Production rank: 50
Consumption: 43.41 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Consumption rank: 50
Exports: 0 kWh (2010 est.)
Exports rank: 89
Imports: 0 kWh (2010 est.)
Imports rank: 208
Installed generating capacity: 10.94 million kW (2009 est.)
Installed generating capacity rank: 53
Generation sources fossil fuels: 100% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 21
Generation sources nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 121
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 178
Generation sources other renewable sources: 0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 145

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 2.682 million bbl/day (2011 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 11
Crude oil exports: 1.365 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 11
Crude oil imports: 0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 204
Crude oil proven reserves: 101.5 billion bbl (1 January 2013 est.)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 7

Refined petroleum
Products production: 902,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products production rank: 24
Products consumption: 339,000 bbl/day (2011 est.)
Products consumption rank: 38
Products exports: 717,700 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products exports rank: 10
Products imports: 0 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products imports rank: 211

Natural gas
Production: 11.73 billion m³ (2010 est.)
Production rank: 42
Consumption: 12.62 billion m³ (2010 est.)
Consumption rank: 43
Exports: 0 m³ (2010 est.)
Exports rank: 100
Imports: 890 million m³ (2010 est.)
Imports rank: 62
Proven reserves: 1.798 trillion m³ (1 January 2012 est.)
Proven reserves rank: 21

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 81.33 million Mt (2010 est.)
From consumption of energy rank: 44

Telephones
Main lines in use: 514,700 (2011)
Main lines in use rank: 98
Mobile cellular: 4.935 million (2011)
Mobile cellular rank: 104

Broadcast media: state-owned TV broadcaster operates 4 networks and a satellite channel; several private TV broadcasters have emerged since 2003; satellite TV available with pan-Arab TV stations especially popular; state-owned Radio Kuwait broadcasts on a number of channels in Arabic and English; first private radio station emerged in 2005; transmissions of at least 2 international radio broadcasters are available (2007)

Internet
Country code: .kw
Hosts: 2,771 (2012)
Hosts rank: 156
Users: 1.1 million (2009)
Users rank: 96

Military expenditures: 5.3% of GDP (2006)
Rank: 14

Military service age and obligation: 18-30 years of age for compulsory and 18-25 years of age for voluntary military service; women age 18-30 may be subject to compulsory military service; conscription suspended in 2001 (2009)

Airports: 7 (2012)
Rank: 166

Heliports: 4 (2012)

Pipelines: gas 269 km; oil 540 km; refined products 57 km (2010)

Roadways
Rank: 150

Merchant marine
Rank: 82

Ports and terminals: Ash Shu'aybah Ash Shuwaykh Az Zawr (Mina' Sa'ud) Mina' 'Abd Allah Mina' al Ahmadi

Disputes international: Kuwait and Saudi Arabia continue negotiating a joint maritime boundary with Iran; no maritime boundary exists with Iraq in the Persian Gulf