A few days ago, Kuwait Times published a survey from Bayt.com entitled ‘Top Cities in the Middle East and North Africa Survey 2015,’ which revealed that half of the people living in Kuwait City are either very happy or somewhat happy living in their current city of residence. This survey was collected online with the participation of 3,613 respondents out of around 4,044,500 people living in Kuwait and polled from varying nationalities.

This survey actually shocked me when I read it. The survey is divided into seven sections - starting with economic factors, labor rights, environmental factors, standard of living, socio-cultural factors, (sports, arts, culture and recreation), and entrepreneurship. Okay, I might not have any numbers or statistics, but I do know what it is like to live as an average earning person in Kuwait.

Economic factor

Survey: According to the survey, 24 percent of the respondents believe that the availability of jobs is either good or excellent, while 15 percent think it is bad. Around a quarter believe that competitive salaries are good-to-excellent. Other important economic factors include benefits for working parents and reasonably priced amenities.

Excuse me, but say what!!! Reasonably priced amenities? First of all, Kuwait is not like it used to be 10 years ago. Everything has changed. Prices have been increasing insanely every year while salaries remain the same. There is absolutely no balance between what you earn and what you spend. In the past years, if you go to a co-op, you were able to buy all your basic needs with KD 50 (for the whole month), but not nowadays. Don’t let me mention the random increase in rents, transportation, even food and vegetables. Regarding availability of jobs - it is declining - if you compare it with how it was five years ago.

Labor Rights

Survey: The survey showed that Kuwait City was the tenth top-scoring city in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa Survey) in terms of labor rights. (31%) respondents believe that they have good-to-excellent end of service benefits, termination rights (27%), vacation allowances (44%), wage protection system (31%), and health insurance and social security system (36%).

Me: Kuwait laws protect expats and their rights and I’m very impressed by the end of service benefits for Kuwaitis. But unfortunately some of the company owners don’t respect the law. They don’t pay salaries on time; they don’t give workers their days off; some use the law against the poor workers and scheme so as to deprive them of their rights - and eventually deport them. Some workers in many cases don’t even have money to hire a lawyer to fight for their rights. The problem is not in the law itself but in the lack of implementation and oversight. And don’t even get me started on the lack of laws protecting domestic workers.

Environmental factors

Survey: The vast majority of respondents (53 percent) say that the cleanliness of their city streets is either good or excellent. While other factors include clean water (good-toexcellent: 47 percent) and beauty of the architecture and buildings (good-to-excellent: 45 percent).

Me: Yes! I do agree that Kuwait is pretty clean and they are trying as much as they can to plant trees. As for the beauty of the buildings and architecture, well it is okay but not amazing. We can see a few places with old and dilapidated buildings. I believe that a country like Kuwait with so much money should be a heaven on earth.

Standard of living

Survey: A large number of respondents rated Kuwait City as good-to-excellent on most of the key factors affecting the standard of living. These factors include the feeling of stability and security (good-to-excellent: 48 percent); the availability of healthcare facilities (good-to-excellent: 48 percent); water/electricity/sewage systems (good-to-excellent: 68 percent) and the quality of education (good-toexcellent: 41 percent).

Me: Kuwait is considered to be a relatively safe place, but after the tragedy of the suicide attack at Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque that killed 26 people and wounded 202, it seems no place is safe again. I believe that Kuwait should strengthen its security. I cannot agree more when it comes to water and electricity - it is perfect, but the sewage system needs more work in some places. The quality of education in government schools is very low and doesn’t meet the standards at all. But as for the private schools, well, it depends on the systems and how they apply it. As for the healthcare facilities in Kuwait, if you compare it to other countries in the MENA, I think it is relatively good, but the recent move to stop providing kidney dialysis treatment for expatriates is just inhuman.

Socio-cultural factors

Survey: Crime rate is rated as good-to-excellent by 40 percent of Kuwait City respondents; a stable political environment rated as good-to-excellent by 33 percent of Kuwait City respondents, and effective law enforcement rated as good and excellent by 38 percent. Others are equal treatment of both genders and tolerance to different cultures and ideas.

Me: Kuwait’s crime rate is relatively low. I can’t say that the political environment is stable because of sectarianism here - and you can feel the tension at the Parliament. As for the equal treatment of both genders and tolerance to different cultures and ideas, I think Kuwait really is doing a good job.

Sports, arts, culture, recreation

Survey: Outdoor/sports activities (28 percent), the culture and arts offering (25 percent), and the availability of family-friendly activities (25 percent) - good or excellent 21 percent ranked the availability of natural areas/landscapes as good-to-excellent.

Me: What do you expect from a city located in the desert? The weather doesn’t actually help, but at the same time, that didn’t stop MENA countries from being an amazing region. Some cities try to create social activities - bringing artists from all over the world to do concerts and promote creativity and cultural exchange. Although most countries in the MENA region are Islamic - but still, that didn’t stop them from enjoying social life.

Entrepreneurship

Survey: Kuwait City ranked either good or excellent among respondents on the following factors: the ease of starting a new business (15 percent); lack of bureaucracy in procedures and paperwork (16 percent); the ease of finding finances to start a business (19 percent); market willingness to accept new ideas and innovations (32 percent); ability to find local talent to employ (26 percent) and affordability of taxes and fees (36 percent).

Me: One of my Kuwaiti friends once asked me “do you know how hard it is to start a new business in Kuwait? Can you imagine the hustle of the paperwork? That’s why Kuwaitis prefer to open businesses outside Kuwait, since everything here works with wasta, and if you don’t have wasta, you can forget it. I have heard this from so many Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis. They really get so frustrated because they can’t achieve their dreams.

By Sahar Moussa

[email protected]