Number of expats in Kuwait booming

Kuwait’s population rose to just over 3m last year, with expatriate workers now accounting for nearly two thirds of total residents, according to the results of the 2011 government census. Official figures released on Sunday by the Central Statistics Office found there was a total of 3.07m people resident in the Gulf State, including 1.09m Kuwaits and 1.98m non-Kuwait foreign workers, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported. The release found average population growth between 2005 and 2011 was around 5.4 percent, with the expatriate population growing at a faster rate of 6.7 percent, compared to 3.3 percent per annum for locals. The most populace district was the Farwaniya Governorate, with 326,513 residents, the census found. The results were for the period leading up to April 20, 2011.