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Kuwait in 1991 |
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Female students comprise almost 50 % of
the total number |
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Demographics |
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Population: 2,418,393
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Life Expectancy: 77.2 years
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Literacy: 83.5%
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Median Age: 25.9 years
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Suffrage: 20 years - universal
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Geographics |
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Land Size: slightly smaller than New Jersey
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Total: 17,820 sq km
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Water: 0 sq km
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History |
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- Settled by the al-Sabah family in the early
1700’s.
- Threatened by Saudis until 1930 or so.
- Kuwait declared independence from Iraq (June 19,
1961)
- Iraq opposed Kuwaiti independence, threatening to
invade
- British military agreed to defend Kuwait, and
Iraq backed down
- In 1999, the emir issued an emergency decree,
while parliament was dissolved, granting women the right to vote.
However, such decrees eventually must be approved by a majority vote
when the national assembly reconvenes; when it did, it rejected the
measure by a vote of 32 to 30.
- Women finally get the vote in May 2005
- Women vote for the first time June 2006
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