Kuwait

Kuwait: sluggish, near-stagnant growth, 1980–2025

One of the world's largest oil reserves per capita has funded a high-income, state-dominated economy with a large sovereign wealth fund, though diversification beyond hydrocarbons has lagged regional peers like the UAE. Between 1980 and 2025, Kuwait's GDP per capita grew from $19,032 to $32,312 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 1.2% — sluggish, near-stagnant growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 3.0% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 16.8 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 0.4% to 0.5% of GDP (a notable increase), while services rose from 47.0% to 59.6% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 71.5 to 84.6 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 8.4% to 51.9%, while the urban population share grew from 94.8% to 100.0%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 22.12 to 23.67 tonnes CO2e per person.