Country name:
conventional long form: State of Kuwait
conventional short form: Kuwait
local long form: Dawlat al Kuwayt
local short form: Al Kuwayt

Government type:
constitutional emirate

Capital:
name: Kuwait City
geographic coordinates: 29 22 N, 47 58 E
time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions:
6 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Ahmadi, Al 'Asimah, Al Farwaniyah, Al Jahra', Hawalli, Mubarak al Kabir

Independence:
19 June 1961 (from the UK)

National holiday:
National Day, 25 February (1950)

Constitution:
approved and promulgated 11 November 1962

Legal system:
mixed legal system consisting of English common law, French civil law, and Islamic religious law

International law organization participation:
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Suffrage:
21 years of age; universal; note - males in the military or police are not allowed to vote; adult females were allowed to vote as of 16 May 2005; all voters must have been citizens for 20 years
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]

Executive branch:
chief of state: Amir SABAH al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah (since 29 January 2006); Crown Prince NAWAF al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah (born 25 June 1937)
head of government: Prime Minister JABIR AL-MUBARAK al-Hamad al-Sabah (since 30 November 2011); First Deputy Prime Minister AHMAD al-Hamud al-Jabir al-Sabah; Deputy Prime Ministers AHMAD AL-KHALID al-Hamad al-Sabah, SABAH AL-KHALID al-Hamad al-Sabah, Mustafa al-Jassim al-SHAMALI
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister and approved by the amir; note - the cabinet of Prime Minister NASIR AL-MUHAMMAD al-Ahmad al-Sabah resigned on 28 November 2011, but will continue in a caretaker role without Health Minister Hilal al-SAYER, Planning and Development Minister Abdelwahab al-HAROUN, Minister of Justice Muhammad Muhsin al-AFASI, and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ali al-RASHID
elections: none; the amir is hereditary; the amir appoints the prime minister and deputy prime ministers

Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-Umma (50 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms; all cabinet ministers are also ex officio voting members of the National Assembly)
elections: last held on 16 May 2009 (next election to be held 2 February 2012)
election results: percent of vote by bloc - NA; seats by bloc - tribal MPs 25 (all Sunni Muslims, and represented primarily by the Al-Mutairi, Al-Azmi, Al-Ajmi, and Al-Rasheedi tribes), Shia Muslims 9, liberals 7, independents 6, Salafi (Sunni) Islamists 3

Judicial branch:
High Court of Appeal

Political parties and leaders:
none; formation of political parties is in practice illegal but is not forbidden by law

Political pressure groups and leaders:
other: Islamists; merchants; political groups; secular liberals and pro-governmental deputies; Shia activists; tribal groups

International organization participation:
ABEDA, AfDB (nonregional member), AFESD, AMF, BDEAC, CAEU, FAO, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, Paris Club (associate), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador SALIM al-Abdallah al-Jabir al-Sabah
chancery: 2940 Tilden Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 966-0702
FAX: [1] (202) 364-2868
consulate(s) general: Los Angeles

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Matthew H. TUELLER
embassy: Bayan 36302, Block 13, Al-Masjed Al-Aqsa Street (near the Bayan palace), Kuwait City
mailing address: P. O. Box 77 Safat 13001 Kuwait; or PSC 1280 APO AE 09880-9000
telephone: [965] 2259-1001
FAX: [965] 2538-0282

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red with a black trapezoid based on the hoist side; colors and design are based on the Arab Revolt flag of World War I; green represents fertile fields, white stands for purity, red denotes blood on Kuwaiti swords, black signifies the defeat of the enemy

National symbol(s):
golden falcon

National anthem:
name: "Al-Nasheed Al-Watani" (National Anthem)

NOTE: 1) The information regarding Kuwait on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Kuwait Government 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Kuwait Government 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
  a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
  b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order

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