Kuwait - Housing

For centuries, housing in Kuwait consisted of small cottages, mud huts, and a few larger dwellings built of coral and plastered with cement and limestone. Improved housing for the general population has been a main government objective. The National Housing Authority built about 50,000 dwelling units in 1977–85. Between 1989 and 1994, 25,213 applications were presented for the housing distribution program. According to the 1995 census, there were 255,477 households in Kuwait. The total number of dwellings that year was 251,682, of which 234,153 were private and 17,529 were collective dwellings. Including vacant dwellings and those under construction, the total number was 287,574 in 1995. About 50% of all housing units were apartments, 19% were villas, 15% were traditional dwellings, 10% were annexes, and 4% were shacks and other marginal dwellings. In 2000/2001 there were 8,875 government housing projects and 3,118 new dwellings constructed.