Kuwait

Kuwait Factbook

This small nation because the center of world attention during the Persian Gulf was of 1991. Kuwait is almost entirely Muslim, and few have heard the gospel. Still, there are opportunities to evangelize.

Kuwait is located in the Middle East. It is a tiny parcel of land at the northern tip of the Persian or Arabian Gulf. It shares borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The land is almost entirely desert, but it contains 10% of the world's oil reserves.

The population of Kuwait is slightly more than 2 million people. More than half of the people are expatriate workers, mostly part of the oil industry. The native Kuwaiti's are Arab. The expats are also mostly Arab but some come from different backgrounds.

The discovery of oil made Kuwait one of the richest nations in the world. The Iraqi occupation was a great hardship and the damage required over $5 billion to repair. However, recent increases in world oil prices has been a boon to the Kuwaiti economy.

Kuwait became an independent nation in 1961. It is a constitutional monarchy, but the monarch holds nearly absolute authority. Kuwait was overrun by Iraq in 1990 and was occupied for several months.

Islam is the state religion. 90% of the people are Muslim. However, other religious groups have some freedom to meet. Evangelicals are very few in number, and nearly all Christians are foreigners.

The war gave the Kuwaitis reason to consider eternal matters and the problems of Islam. Although evangelism is restricted, some Kuwaitis have come in contact with the gospel. Some are reached as they travel in other lands. Others hear from expatriate Christians. There are also numerous radio broadcasts in Arabic.

Pray for those seeking to bring the gospel to Kuwait and pray for a breakthrough among the native Kuwaitis.

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