Kuwait / Population

The first population census in Kuwait was conducted in 1957. Little was known about the population of Kuwait before that date, although some travelers gave estimates which lacked accuracy. The Central Statistics Office tentatively estimates the 1910 population at about 35,000.

From 1910 to 1935 when prospecting for oil started with promising results, the rate of population growth suddenly accelerated and reached 75,000 prior to the Second World War, or rather before actual oil exports started. In the early 1950s the population was 100,000. When the first population census was conducted in 1957 the population had doubled to 206,000.

Since 1957, a census of the population in Kuwait has been conducted every five years.

The results of the April 1985 population census indicate that the population is 1,712,133. Estimates from the Central Statistics Office indicate that the population rose by mid-1988 to 1,95,477, and decreased to 1.8 million according to the 1995 census.