Kuwait, country of the Arabian Peninsula located in the northwestern corner of the Persian Gulf. Kuwait is bounded to the west and north by Iraq, to the east by the Persian Gulf, and to the south by Saudi Arabia.
A small emirate nestled between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait is situated in a section of one of the driest deserts on Earth. Its shore, however, includes Kuwait Bay, a deep harbour on the Persian Gulf. There, in the 18th century, Bedouin from the interior founded a trading post.

The tiny country, which was a British protectorate from 1899 until 1961, drew world attention in 1990 when Iraqi forces invaded and attempted to annex it. A United Nations coalition led by the United States drove Iraq’s army out of Kuwait within days of launching an offensive in February 1991, but the retreating invaders looted the country and set fire to most of its oil wells. Kuwait has largely recovered from the effects of the war and again has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.

The native and official language is Arabic, fluency in which is a requirement for naturalization. Kuwaitis speak a dialect of Gulf Arabic, and Modern Standard Arabic is taught in schools. English is the second language taught in public schools. Hindi, Urdu, Persian (Farsi), and other languages also are widely spoken among the foreign population.

Despite a government policy to reduce the number of foreign workers following the Iraqi invasion in 1990, Kuwaitis remain a minority in their own country. About two-thirds of the population are expatriate workers, formerly from other Arab states but now largely from South and Southeast Asia. These nonnationals do not enjoy citizenship rights, economic or political, which are reserved for Kuwaiti citizens