KUWAIT: Kuwait Urban Observatory organized a seminar titles 'Demographic Imbalances, Effects and Solutions' with the participation of MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari. Kandari said that Kuwaitis have become a minority in their country. He also stressed that such talk concerning expats was not out of 'racism' or acting like US President Donald Trump. "We are only after regulation ," he underlined, noting that expats were the ones who taught and treated everyone when he was young. Kandari emphasized that Kuwait is not a destination for migration like Europe and is a rich country attracting expats for work rather than immigration.

Kandari said unlike Europe, which has a majority elderly population and lacks youth, 70 percent of Kuwaitis are young. He noted that demographic problems do not only lie in the number of expats, but also in the inability to control these numbers and the pressure they are causing on various services. "The fact that 24 percent of jobs in the public sector are occupied by expats is a problem, while 17,000 citizens are unemployed," he noted, adding that expats make up 71 percent of the private sector's workforce.  Kandari added that because the state has so far unable to provide decent public transport means, many expats prefer getting driving licenses to drive their own vehicles, and thus the streets are congested.

By A Saleh