Happiness and enjoying life top wish of Kuwait's Muslim expatriates this Eid, Western Union survey finds |
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Posted on 8/19/2012 |
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As Ramadan draws to a close and preparations for Eid celebrations gathers momentum, the foremost wish of Muslim expatriates living and working in Kuwait is their personal well-being, a recent Western Union-sponsored study has found.
Specifically, 45% of the respondents to the survey which was commissioned as part of Western Union's Ramadan 2012 Campaign said that they valued their happiness the most. Only 26% most desire for better personal well-being encompassing safety, security and good health, as opposed to a GCC average of 42%.
Global Muslims who have resided for a shorter period of time (five years or less) in their host countries tend to place more importance on wealth and success, than those who have stayed overseas for an extended period.
The Western Union study, "Traditions of Eid by global citizens of Muslim faith" was conducted by The Nielsen Company and covered Muslims of 11 nationalities living in 12 countries in the GCC, Asia Pacific, the United States and Western Europe.
The survey also revealed that Arab Muslims living across the globe (27%) and Muslims living in the Middle East (24%) have a stronger desire for peace relative to Muslims living in Asia, Europe and US (16%), which is attributable to a long-standing heightened sense of security precipitated by recent uprisings.
Keeping up with the tradition of sharing and giving during Eid, Muslim expatriates in Kuwait gift their loved ones mostly (88%) but are just as generous in sharing with people they do not know (58%) by gifting people in need (32%), and donating to charities (35%) and mosques (18%).
According to the survey, cash is the preferred choice of gift (97%) of the respondents from Kuwait with money transfer companies being the preferred medium of sending money (53%); followed by clothes (33%), physical gifts (13%) and provisions (9%).
Sobia Rahman, Western Union's Regional Vice President for Gulf, Pakistan & Afghanistan said, " A vast majority of our consumers in the GCC and globally are expatriates who travel across borders to secure their future and that of their families. Eid is a time for prayer, celebrations and unity and for spreading happiness, however a number of expatriates in Kuwait live away from their families, but they still do their best to share the joy of Eid by exchanging gifts with their loved ones."
"We help consumers move their money to their home countries for a host of reasons from regular expenses to religious festivals such as Eid. Our recent survey revealed that nearly all of the respondents in Kuwait prefer to gift cash to their loved ones for Eid with 53% preferring to use money transfer companies such as Western Union to send money in a fast and reliable manner", added Rahman.
The survey also found that majority of family and friends (92%) reciprocating their wishes to their loved one's working or living in Kuwait opted for a more personal approach of making a phone call despite the myriad of emerging technologies accessible via the internet or smart phones. Sending a text message (73%) and email (14%) were revealed as the second and third preferred channels.
The findings of the study were based on a survey of close to 550 Muslims emigrants originally from the Middle Eastern and North African countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia and the South Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They resided in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia in the GCC; Malaysia and Singapore in Asia; the United Kingdom, Germany and France in Europe; and the United States.
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