_#_Language: Arabic (official); English widely spoken
_#_Literacy: 74% (male 78%, female 69%) age 15 and over can read and write (1985)
_#_Labor force: 566,000 (1986); services 45.0%, construction 20.0%, trade 12.0%, manufacturing 8.6%, finance and real estate 2.6%, agriculture 1.9%, power and water 1.7%, mining and quarrying 1.4%; 70% of labor force was non-Kuwaiti
_#_Organized labor: labor unions exist in oil industry and among government personnel
_*Government #_Long-form name: State of Kuwait
_#_Type: nominal constitutional monarchy
_#_Capital: Kuwait
_#_Administrative divisions: 4 governorates (muhafazat, singular—muhafazah); Al Ahmadi, Al Jahrah, Al Kuwayt, Hawalli; note—there may be a new governorate of Farwaniyyah
_#_Independence: 19 June 1961 (from UK)
_#_Constitution: 16 November 1962 (some provisions suspended since 29 August 1962)