Kuwait's population increased by 1.8% to 4.46 million in first half 2022, but it remains below the pre-covid level and expatriates have declined by 11.4%, National Bank of Kuwait said.

Despite the increase in the number of arrivals by 2.3% in the first half of 2022, the expatriate population is still significantly lower on an annual basis with a huge drop of 382,000. Among expatriates, the Indian community recorded the sharpest fall of 15% ie 153000 people, followed by Egyptians (-9%) ie 58,000 people in 2021. Accordingly, Indians’ share in the overall population fell to 19% from 22% in 2019, while the share of Egyptians dropped to 14% from 15% of Kuwait’s total population, the report said.

The employment rates of Kuwaiti nationals witnessed a sharp increase during the past year, thanks to the increase in job opportunities for Kuwaiti nationals in the private sector. Kuwaiti employment jumped by a sharp 6.1% However, the overall employment (excluding domestic workers) fell 5.9% in June 2022, overwhelmingly driven by declining non-Kuwaiti jobs, the report said.

Although the expatriate population has declined since 2019, the share of domestic workers in the expat population increased from 20% in 2017 to 23.6%.

According to the report, low-end non-Kuwaiti jobs have plummeted, particularly in construction, private household workers, retail, and manufacturing.