Economy

Imports
$33.8 billion (2021). Cars ($2.84B), Petroleum Gas ($2.13B), Gold ($1.06B), Jewellery ($1.04B), and Packaged Medicaments ($833M), importing mostly from China ($5B), United Arab Emirates ($4.69B), United States ($2.85B), Saudi Arabia ($2.04B), and Japan ($1.61B).
In 2021, Kuwait was the world’s biggest importer of Cast Iron Pipes ($117M).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of age)
• 79.8% have an account with a financial institution
• 22.3% have a credit card

Ease of doing business
Ease of conducting business is medium (rated 67.4 out of 100). Ranked 9th out of 20 Middle East and North African countries. Ranked 83rd out of 190 countries worldwide (2022, World Bank).

Exports
$58.2 billion (2021). Crude Petroleum ($40.1B), Refined Petroleum ($7.57B), Petroleum Gas ($2.62B), Cyclic Hydrocarbons ($1.28B), and Sulfonated, Nitrated or Nitrosated Hydrocarbons ($1.02B), exporting mostly to China ($16B), India ($8.72B), South Korea ($7.23B), Japan ($5.79B), and Vietnam ($4.1B).
In 2021, Kuwait was the world’s biggest exporter of Sulfonated, Nitrated or Nitrosated Hydrocarbons ($1.02B).

Economic freedom
‘Moderately free’ (rated 56.7 out of 100). Ranked 9th out of 14 Middle East and North African countries. Ranked 108th out of 176 countries worldwide (2023, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 7th out of 19 Northern African and Western Asian countries, and 62nd out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Media

Media language English, Arabic

Information channels
According to Freedom House, the authorities limit media freedom and the law criminalises criticism of the emir and the government, or content that is deemed to insult Islam. State TV and radio operate alongside private broadcasters. Pan-Arab satellite stations are widely watched. The press is relatively open, but newspapers must be licensed by the information ministry. BBC World Service broadcasts on FM in Kuwait City (in Arabic on 90.1, English on 100.1). Internet use is very high. Around 4.1 million Kuwaitis were online by the end of 2017, comprising nearly 98% of the population (InternetWorldStats.com). Reporters Without Borders says a vaguely-worded cyber-crime law that took effect in 2016 poses a threat to internet users who post critical content. Certain websites that are deemed to be immoral or politically sensitive are blocked, says Freedom House.

The press

Al-Qabas – private, daily
Al-Rai al-Amm – private, daily
Kuwait Times – English-language
Arab Times – English-language
Al-Anba – private, daily
Al-Jarida – private, daily
Al-Nahar – private, daily

Television

Kuwaiti TV – state-run, operates four networks and satellite channel
Al-Rai – first private TV, via satelliteAl-Sabah – private

Radio

Radio Kuwait – state-run, programmes in English and Arabic
Marina FM – first private radio station, music-based

News agency

Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) – in Arabic and English

Internet Data

Internet users
99% penetration, 4.25 million

Share of web traffic by device
68.17% mobile phones, 29.82% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.93% tablet devices and 0.07% other devices.

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
97.66  Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
117.26 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 178%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 98.4%

Most popular web search engines
Google (96.1%), Bing (1.97%), Petal Search (0.88%), Yandex (0.51%), Yahoo! (0.3%), other (0.24%).

Most used social media
Facebook (59.41%),  Instagram (17.07%), Twitter (11.13%), YouTube (4.13%), LinkedIn (3.98%), Pinterest (3.85%), reddit (0.2%), other (0.22%).

Social statistics

Life expectancy
79 yrs (2021)

Corruption perceptions Index
Kuwait scored 42 out of 100, ranked 77 out of 180 countries worldwide.

Current health expenditure
6.31% of GDP

CO2 emissions
21.2 metric tons per capita

World Happiness Index
Kuwait ranked 50 out of 137 countries, with a score of 6.106.

Current education expenditure
92.3% of total expenditure in public institutions