As many as 280,000 expatriates in Kuwait should be deported per year for the next five years to address the imbalanced demographic in the country, an MP was quoted as saying in a report.

The Kuwaiti population should be at least equal to the number of foreigners who live in the country, said MP Dr Khalil Abdullah in the Gulf News report.

“There is a critical need to find solutions for the demographic situation in Kuwait,” he said.

The expatriates with laudable contributions to the prosperity of the nation and with commendable experience to serve the country and the citizens should not be included in the mass-deportation, Dr Abdullah said.

The reduction in the number of foreigners has become a necessity to ease the pressure on the local infrastructure and to eliminate congestions in all state institutions, said the report.

“It will also help local Kuwaiti men and women find employment opportunities in both the public and private sectors, especially that there are increasingly obvious unemployment indicators in the country and the list of people seeking jobs getting longer,” Dr Abdullah said.

The 1.2 million Kuwaitis make up slightly less than one-third (31.3 per cent) of the total population of 3.9 million, according to official January figures the report added.