Kuwait Map

Kuwait occupies the north-western corner of the Gulf. Iraq lies to the north and west and Saudi Arabia to the south, and the country's life centres on Kuwait Bay, a deep inlet that gave it a sheltered harbour. It covers 17,818 square kilometers and has about 5.0 million residents (UN World Population Prospects, 2025 estimate). The 2021 census counted 4.39 million. Kuwaiti citizens make up only around a third of the population; the rest are mostly workers from South Asia, Egypt and the Philippines.

Desert, bay and islands

Most of Kuwait is a gravel and sand plain that rises gently from the coast towards the south-west. The highest ground, about 306 meters, is an unnamed point in the far west, near the borders. North of Kuwait Bay, the Jal az-Zor escarpment (the Mutla Ridge) is the only real relief. There are no rivers or lakes, though the Shatt al-Arab, the combined mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates, empties into the Gulf just beyond the Iraqi border. Fresh water comes almost entirely from desalination plants.

Kuwait has nine islands. Bubiyan, in the far north-east next to Iraq, is by far the largest. It is low, marshy and linked to the mainland by a bridge, and it is the site of the Mubarak Al Kabeer port project. Failaka, at the mouth of Kuwait Bay, is the most historic: it holds Bronze Age Dilmun remains and a Hellenistic settlement known as Ikaros. Its villagers were evacuated after the Iraqi occupation, and the island is now being redeveloped.

Heat, dust and the best season

Kuwait is one of the hottest places on Earth. On 21 July 2016, Mitribah in the north-west recorded 53.9°C, which the World Meteorological Organization accepted as the highest temperature reliably measured in Asia. From June to August, daytime highs of around 45-50°C are normal. The northwesterly shamal wind brings dust storms in late spring and early summer. The little rain, roughly 100-120 mm a year, falls between November and April, and this cooler half of the year is the time to visit.

Six governorates

Kuwait is divided into six governorates (muhafazat). In practice, most of the population lives in a single metropolitan area along the southern shore of Kuwait Bay and the coast running south. Their 2021 census populations were:

• Al Farwaniyah (1.11 million): the most populous, inland from the capital, and home to Kuwait International Airport
• Hawalli (0.93 million): dense coastal districts including Salmiya, with its seafront shops and restaurants
• Al Ahmadi (0.92 million): the oil governorate in the south, built around the 1940s Kuwait Oil Company town, the Greater Burgan field and the refineries at Mina al-Ahmadi
• Al Asimah (the Capital, 0.57 million): Kuwait City proper, with the Seif Palace, the Grand Mosque, Souq Al-Mubarakiya and the Kuwait Towers, opened in 1979
• Al Jahra (0.57 million): the largest by area, covering the north and west; Jahra town's Red Fort recalls a 1920 battle against raiders from Najd
• Mubarak Al-Kabeer (0.28 million): a mainly residential governorate in the south-east of the metropolitan area

Oil and wealth

Oil was struck at Burgan in 1938, and exports began in 1946. Greater Burgan remains one of the largest oilfields in the world. Kuwait's proven reserves of about 101.5 billion barrels are roughly 6% of the world total. The Kuwait Investment Board, set up in 1953 and now the Kuwait Investment Authority, is generally described as the world's oldest sovereign wealth fund. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest-valued currency unit in the world. Citizens receive free healthcare and education, and most work in the public sector.

Borders, invasion and politics

The Al Sabah family has led Kuwait since the mid-18th century. Under an 1899 agreement, Britain took charge of the sheikhdom's foreign affairs. The Uqair conference of 1922 drew Kuwait's borders with Najd and Iraq and created a Kuwait-Saudi Neutral Zone, which was later partitioned by agreement in the 1960s. Kuwait became independent on 19 June 1961. On 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded and annexed it. A US-led coalition drove Iraqi forces out by 26 February 1991, now marked as Liberation Day, and the retreating troops set more than 600 oil wells on fire. A UN commission then demarcated the Iraq-Kuwait border, and the Security Council endorsed it in 1993.

Kuwait has had an elected National Assembly since 1963, long the most powerful parliament in the Gulf. In May 2024, Emir Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah dissolved it and suspended several articles of the constitution for up to four years.