Kuwait’s youth rank least optimistic in new global survey

If you’re a young person in Kuwait trying to picture where your country is headed in 10 years, a new survey suggests you’re probably not feeling great about it. And you’re not alone – according to the numbers, young people across Kuwait feel less hopeful about the future than anyone else surveyed, anywhere in the world.

The study comes from Oxford Scholastica Academy, a UK-based summer school provider, which polled 1,433 students across 100 countries. Only 41 countries had enough responses to be ranked properly, and Kuwait came in last of all of them.

Where Kuwait sits in the rankings

The survey measured five things: how hopeful students feel about their personal future, the economy, the environment, politics and society as a whole. Kuwait’s overall score was 2.92, behind every other country in the study.

The low score wasn’t spread evenly across categories. Kuwaiti students were especially gloomy about politics, scoring it just 1.80 out of 5 – the single lowest political optimism score recorded anywhere in the survey. They also gave the lowest score for the future of society generally, at 2.40.

Kuwait wasn’t alone near the bottom. Rwanda came second-least optimistic overall at 3.20, with low scores for the future of society (2.83) and the environment (2.83). Turkey ranked third-least optimistic at 3.22, with the fifth-lowest political optimism score (2.58) and the fourth-lowest environmental score (2.62).

France and Poland followed close behind. French students gave the lowest environmental optimism score of any country in the study, just 2.25, alongside a political optimism score of 2.38. Polish students scored political optimism at 2.30, the second-lowest in the world after Kuwait.

The UK, often held up as a comparison point for expats here, ranked 33rd out of 41 countries, with an overall score of 3.61. British students scored just 3.04 for political optimism and 3.06 for environmental optimism, putting the UK in the bottom third for both.

Who’s most hopeful – and why

At the top of the table, Sri Lanka’s young people came out as the most optimistic in the world, with an overall score of 4.32. That’s notable given Sri Lanka’s recent economic troubles, which this site has covered before in the context of Sri Lankan workers in Kuwait. Sri Lankan students scored the highest environmental optimism of any country (4.62) and strong personal optimism (4.75), along with solid hope for society (4.25).

Kenya came second overall at 4.31. Kenyan students recorded the highest political optimism in the entire study (3.96) and tied with Cyprus for the highest score on the future of society (4.43). Kenya has featured in recent regional news too, including Kenyan workers turned back from Saudi Arabia over Ebola rules.

Nepal ranked third, and its students gave a perfect personal optimism score of 5.00 – the only country to do so in the entire survey. Nepal also recorded the highest economic optimism score, 4.80, which the researchers say is striking given the country’s lower-income status.

Kazakhstan came fourth overall, with high economic confidence (4.56) and the third-highest political optimism in the study (3.76). Indonesia and Nigeria followed closely, scoring 4.07 and 4.08. Nigerian students scored well on environmental optimism (3.92), while Indonesian students were confident about their economy (4.41).

Among Western countries, Canada ranked highest at sixth overall with 4.08, ahead of the United States (3.99), the UK (3.61), Germany (3.73) and France (3.22).

What this means for people living in Kuwait

This survey doesn’t explain why Kuwaiti youth feel this way, only that they do. It also doesn’t say whether the students polled were Kuwaiti citizens, expat residents, or a mix, so it’s worth reading the numbers as a general snapshot of young people here rather than a precise breakdown by nationality.

For expat parents and young adults living in Kuwait, the low political optimism score lines up with what many families already talk about at home: a sense that political change feels slow or out of reach. It sits alongside other recent context on this site, including Kuwait’s position in global innovation rankings and how currency depreciation has affected expats budgeting in Kuwait, both of which touch on how people here judge their own futures. You can find more global context like this in our international news coverage.

Lavinia Abell, Co-Director of Oxford Scholastica Academy, said anxiety among young people is understandable given what’s happening in the world right now. “In every aspect of society, there are things to be anxious and pessimistic about. This could be the rise in AI, war, the cost-of-living increasing and much more. This will be especially worrisome for young people, facing challenges as they enter the world of work,” she said. She added that the study highlights how different nationalities respond to these pressures, noting that “what is particularly striking is how low Italy’s political optimism scores are compared to other European nations. Even France and Poland, which also rank near the bottom, show slightly different patterns.”

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