Distillers Country guides / Kuwait
Kuwait
A one-page guide to Kuwait for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Kuwait City
- Official languages
- Arabic
- Currency
- Kuwaiti dinar (KWD)
- Time zone
- UTC+3 (no daylight saving)
- Area
- 17,818 km²
People
- Population
- 5.0 million (2025)
- Population growth
- -0.7% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 100%
- Aged under 15
- 18.0%
- Aged 65 and over
- 3.2%
- Life expectancy
- 84.6 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$157.2 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$31,573 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 2.7% (2025)
- Inflation
- 2.4% (2025)
Climate
Hot, dry desert climate. Winters are cooler than elsewhere on the Gulf coast, spring brings occasional thunderstorms, and the shamal northwesterly wind blows in June. Not relevant to beverage alcohol, which is banned, but affects any industrial ethanol storage.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Prohibited
- Legal drinking age
- Alcohol is prohibited for all ages (Law No. 46 of 1964, as cited by Wikipedia)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 0.12 litres of pure alcohol (2024)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Legal drinking age (Kuwait: prohibited, Law 46/1964); Wikipedia - Kuwait; US Commerce - Kuwait prohibited and restricted imports. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.