Kuwait PM proposes drastically scaling back expat population
Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah suggested the country reduce its number of foreign residents from 70% to 30%.
Kuwait should scale back its expat population from 70% to 30%, the country’s prime minister said Wednesday, as the country grapples with an economic slowdown and collapsing oil prices.
“We rely on our sons and daughters to work in all professions,” Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah said in a meeting with newspaper editors, as quoted by state-run KUNA agency.
Foreigners currently make up roughly 3.4 million out of Kuwait’s 4.8 million population.
“The ideal population structure is to have Kuwaitis being 70% and non-Kuwaitis 30%, so we have a big challenge in the future, which is to address the discrepancy in population,” he said.
