Ethnic divisions: Kuwaiti 50%, other Arab 35%, South Asian 9%, Iranian 4%, other 2%
Principal languages: Arabic (official); English widely spoken
Principal religions: Muslim 85% (Shiite 30%, Sunni 45%, other 10%), Christian, Hindu, Parsi, and other 15%
Rank of affluence among U.N. members: 21/183
Small, hot, flat Kuwait sits in the northwest corner of the Persian Gulf, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It symbolizes the petroleum wealth that has transformed the Arab world--and the conflicts exacerbated by that wealth. The sheikhdom, originally a collection of fishing families, emerged from isolation at the turn of the century, when it became a British protectorate. After World War II its vast reserves of low-cost, high-grade oil were developed, and in a startlingly short time, one of the harshest environments on Earth became one of the most comfortable.
Today the Kuwaiti government owns the oil fields; in exchange, its citizens enjoy tax-free affluence bolstered by government-funded health care, education, and social security. Mansions and servants are middle-class perks, and foreign "guest-workers" outnumber Kuwaitis three to one. But wealth has not been able to buy tranquility.
The Iraq-Kuwait border--a legacy of British colonialism--was never formally ratified, and years of threats led to an actual invasion in 1990, which five months later was repulsed by a coalition of Western and Arab troops. But the invasion had long-lasting effects. The Iraqis left the desert full of deadly land mines and set the oil fields on fire (they burned for ten months). Kuwait's vast financial holdings were depleted, and in 1992 a reform party won Parliamentary elections for the first time.
The war's most lasting legacy may be the introspection it has inspired among the Kuwaiti people, who feel a little bit like the rich kid everyone tolerates and no one really likes.
