Welcome to Salmiya, the Kuwait city so unloved by its expat population

Despite boasting an aquarium, a scientific centre, an IMAX movie theatre, shopping malls, a football stadium, medical centres and a well-equipped park, it has been named the worst city in the world for expats to live and work.

The Salem Al-Mubarak Street shopping district, commonly known as Salmiya Centre, runs down the outer blocks of the city and is one of the oldest and largest shopping districts of Kuwait. It is a remnant of Kuwait’s once numerous traditional souk bazaars.

The beachfront, once a hub and harbour for the fishing and pearl diving community, has been transformed into a commercial avenue.

Nearby, the Gulf Road is coveted for its amazing sea vistas and a boulevard passing through much of coastal Salmiya is a reflection of Kuwait’s drive to modernity.

Dubai

And yet in the latest InterNations Expat City Ranking 2020, it has been voted the worst out of 66 cities analysed and described as “a city of unhappy, overworked, and homesick expats”.

According to InterNations, it places last in two indices and ends up among the bottom 10 in every single index but one.

“What I don’t like about local life? Oh, so many things —I could go on for hours!”, as an expat from Australia puts it.

Expats in Salmiya say they are unhappy with the local transportation (61st), with their health and the environment (66th), as well as with climate and leisure (66th).

Abu Dhabi

Nearly three in five said they dislike the local leisure options (vs 15 percent worldwide). In the Getting Settled Index (66th), expats do not feel at home and they describe the local population as unfriendly (48 percent vs 17 percent globally), and they are also unhappy with their social life (56 percent vs 24 percent globally).

Although the survey did not specify, the difficulty in getting settled could be connected to a long-running campaign to cut the number of expats in Kuwait, culminating last month when Kuwait’s parliament unanimously approved a law giving the government a year to set in motion plans to redress the lopsided ratio between foreign residents and citizens.

Expatriates, brought in over the decades to perform both specialised jobs and unskilled labour, account for nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s 4.8 million people. Within the next 12 months, the government is to formulate procedures and mechanisms to cut the number of foreigners.

Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah said in June that expatriates should be more than halved to 30 percent of the population, as the coronavirus pandemic and a slump in oil prices put the economy under intense strain.

Back to the survey and the city’s losing streak also continues in the Urban Work Life Index (65th), where it features among the global bottom 10 in all subcategories – Job & Career (64th), Work-Life Balance (64th) and  Job Security (59th).

For example, expats in Salmiya say they are the least happy with their work-life balance worldwide (41 percent unhappy vs 18 percent globally).

Things are looking up a little in the Finance & Housing Index (55th) but even for its best-ranking factor in the index — the ease of finding housing — Salmiya still places 44th out of 66.

Riyadh

Salmiya has undertaken a major face lift in recent times primarily due to ever-expanding commercial real estate on the Gulf Road. The boom in real estate in Salmiya has seen its demographics being constantly on the move. Increasing rental prices have gradually pushed out its working class expatriate community towards the interior districts of Kuwait.

The influx of foreigners to Salmiya is of historical importance dating as far back as the 1960s.

During the Gulf War, Salmiya was destroyed by invading Iraqi occupation, but from 1993 onward it was gradually rebuilt and re-populated.

Elsewhere in the InterNations report, Abu Dhabi has become the best city in the Gulf for expats to live and work, according to the survey of more than 15,000 expatriates worldwide.

Muscat

InterNations placed Abu Dhabi 10th globally, ahead of its neighbour Dubai (20th) and Muscat (14th), Riyadh (42nd) and Jeddah (52nd).

The cities were ranked on information about five areas of expat life – Quality of Urban Living, Getting Settled, Urban Work Life, Finance & Housing, and Local Cost of Living.

The data was collected in March, just before Covid-19 turned into a global pandemic.

Valencia came out on top, followed by Alicante, Lisbon, Panama City, Singapore, Málaga, Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid and Abu Dhabi in 10th place.

On the other hand, expats considered Salmiya in Kuwait the worst in the world while Rome, Seoul, Milan, Nairobi, Paris, Johannesburg, Santiago, Dublin, and Hong Kong were also in the bottom 10.

Valencia

InterNations said Abu Dhabi performed especially well in the Getting Settled Index (17th). Moreover, they describe the local population as both friendly in general (17th) and friendly towards foreign residents in particular (16th).

The Finance & Housing Index (23rd) is Abu Dhabi’s second-biggest strength. While 70 percent say it is easy to find housing (vs 55 percent globally), only 28 percent find it affordable (vs 41 percent globally).

Nonetheless, 63 percent say they are satisfied with their financial situation, about the same as the global average (61 percent).

In terms of working in Abu Dhabi, expats are dissatisfied with their job security (47th), their working hours (51st), and their work-life balance (52nd).

“I dislike my very busy working schedule and not having the time to socialise with my friends,” says an expat from Uganda.