One-third of expats want to leave Kuwait

Dubai: One third of the 3.2 million expatriate residents in Kuwait are planning to leave the country due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Kuwaitization policy, local media reported.

According to an opinion poll conducted by the German InterNations network, the one-third of Kuwait’s expatriate workforce want to leave the country sooner than expected as a result of the negative repercussions of the pandemic and Kuwaitization.

Kuwaitization is a government strategy aimed at creating a 100 per cent Kuwaiti workforce in the public sector and reduce the number of expatriates in the private sector.

Quality of life

For the seventh time, Kuwait ranked 59th in the Expat Insider-2021 survey, which is published annually by Inter- Nations with the aim of classifying countries on the grounds of their attractiveness to expatriates, who want to live and work there.

InterNations ranks countries on the basis of 15 factors – quality of life, leisure options, travel and transportation, health and safety, security and safety, ease of adaptation, stability in the country, level of hospitality and kindness, ability to make friends, language, working abroad, job and career, life and work balance, job security, and digital life.

Kuwait came in the last place in terms of quality of life, leisure options, personal happiness, travel and mobility. It was considered “the worst destination for expatriates in terms of ease of adaptation and stability”, with 46 per cent of the respondents expressing a lack of ability to integrate into the local culture, and 45 per cent affirming the difficulty to live in Kuwait.