Country Comments

Kuwait is an economically rich country thanks to its oil reserves. From an ecological perspective there is very little wealth of biodiversity in its largely flat, sandy, desert terrain. Because of its limited renewable resources and its high per capita consumption, Kuwait is far from sustainable and highly dependent on many imports.

The Guardian reports for years, Kuwait’s climate has been steadily heating up. In the summer months, the Gulf state now frequently touches 50C, and was last year awarded the grim prize of being the hottest place on earth, when temperatures reached a staggering high of 54C. There are growing concerns for those residents who cannot afford to shelter inside, and mounting questions about how such an energy-intensive city can survive as resources such as water and oil dwindle. Around 99% of the country’s fresh water comes from desalination, itself an energy-intensive process currently heavily dependent on oil. Water is heavily subsidised by the government.

Women’s rights are a mixed bag in Kuwait. The literacy rate among both female and male youth is 99 percent (1). The minimum age of marriage is 15 for girls and 17 for boys (2), and while women continued to face violence in the family including killings, authorities passed a new law on domestic violence providing new protections from domestic violence for the first time. (3).

Kuwait’s fertility rate has hovered in recent years around replacement levels but immigration has fueled over half its population growth for the past decade.

(1) https://www.unicef.org/gender/files/Kuwait-Gender-Eqaulity-Profile-2011.pdf

(2) Polygyny is legal in Kuwait. https://www.unicef.org/gender/files/Kuwait-Gender-Eqaulity-Profile-2011.pdf

(3) https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/kuwait