Languages of Kuwait

State of Kuwait, Dowlat al-Kuwait. National or official language: Standard Arabic. 1,811,000 (1998 UN). Literacy rate 71% to 79%. Also includes Egyptian Spoken Arabic 20,000, Najdi Spoken Arabic 200,000, South Levantine Spoken Arabic 85,000, Kurmanji, Balochi, people from India, Pakistan, the Philippines 50,000 (1995), the West. Information mainly from T.M. Johnstone 1967; B. Ingham 1982; C. Holes 1990. Sunni Muslim, Shi'a Muslim, Christian, Hindu. Deaf population 110,285. Deaf institutions: 1. Data accuracy estimate: B. The number of languages listed for Kuwait is 3. Of those, all are living languages. Diversity index 0.54.

Spoken living languages

ARABIC, GULF SPOKEN

[AFB] 500,000 in Kuwait, 85% of the population (1986). Alternate names: KHALIJI. Dialects: KUWAITI HADARI ARABIC. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic.
 

ARABIC, STANDARD

[ABV] Middle East, North Africa. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic.
 

MEHRI

[MHR] 3,537 in Kuwait (1965 government report). Scattered individuals in Kuwait. Alternate names: MAHRI. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, South Arabian.
 

 

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