Cabinet discuss ways to freezes expat numbers

Kuwait Cabinet decided to stop the flow of any more expats into Kuwait and maintain the current numbers without any increase, allowing newcomers to only replace those leaving, local daily Al Qabas reported quoting sources.

According to report, Cabinet discussed several scenarios to solve the demographic composition to help fix ‘imbalances’ that have been studied and discussed since 1989. The sources said some Cabinet members touted a report noting that “Kuwaitis have become a minority in their own home country”, and stressed that in order to reach a percentage of 40 percent of the population within 15 years, the best suggestion made so far was to immediately freeze current expat numbers and not allow any more into the country unless to replace those leaving for good.

The report says that according to recent studies, only 17 percent of the workforce is Kuwaiti, while expats number 2,008,885. The study also showed that 514,000 citizens below 15 and above 65 were excluded from the workforce, while expats excluded from the force number 439,000. In addition, the report also says that the total number of domestic workers is 564,803.