Kuwait is a country located in Western Asia on the northern edge tipping the Persian Gulf of eastern Arabia. The country shares its borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In 2014, the state held a population of 4.2 million people in which the majorities are expatriates from different countries covering over 50% of the population at 2.9 million people while the remaining 1.3 million includes the Kuwaitis. A large number of expatriates is the significant effect of globalization identified within Kuwait mostly related to its oil wealth. The country’s oil reserves discovery in 1938 influenced the large-scale modernization that followed in the years from 1946 to 1982. Some of the major setbacks that the country suffered in its development include a geopolitical instability that occurred in 1990 accompanied by a stock market crash and economic crisis in the same year. These affected investor confidence and made it challenging investors to remain invested in the market. Another setback was the invasion of Iraq in the same year. The war with Iraq continued until the military intervention of the United States in 1991. These led to difficulties in reviving the economy and redevelopment of the national infrastructure affected by the war.
The recovery of Kuwait has seen a growth of its economic position due to the presence of oil with having ranked to have the sixth largest oil reserves. The country has gone ahead to revive its position to a GDP of 175.8 billion USD as of 2013. The 2013 GDP growth reflects an increase of 0.82% from that of 2012 (Trading Economics). As of 2015, Kuwait was ranked the 55 least corrupt countries a drop from 67 of the previous year indicating to the lowering corruption levels.
The employment rate of Kuwait decreased from 20.5 to 19.4 as from 2013 to 2014 (The World Bank).
Work Cited:
The World Bank. Unemployment, Youth Total (% of Total Labor Force Ages 15-24) (Modeled ILO Estimate). The World Bank. Retrieved on February 20, 2016 from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.1524.ZS
Trading economics. Kuwait GDP. Trading Economics. Retrieved on February 20, 2016 from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/kuwait/gdp
