We need more computers
Kuwait ranked 31st in the world in computer ownership. Doesn’t sound that bad until you realize Estonia, Slovania Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Latvia scored higher than Kuwait. Not that I have anything against those countries mind you! [Link]
Update: I just purchased the ebook version of The Pocket World in Figures 2008 and here are some interesting facts I found related to Kuwait…
- Kuwait ranks second in lowest death rate per capita. UAE is first, Qatar is third.
- Kuwait ranks 20th in most deaths in road accidents, I used to think we were first?
- Kuwait ranks 2nd in most injured in road accidents, Qatar is first with more than 3 times the amount!
- Kuwait ranks 3rd in death by diabetes, UAE is first, Saudi is second.
- Kuwait ranks 2nd in largest amount of carbon dioxide emissions per person. UAE is first.
- Kuwait ranks 4th in “Proportion of a country’s population residing in a single city”. That city being Kuwait City which doesn’t make sense since not many people live in Kuwait City.
- Kuwait ranks 3rd in Least economically dependent on agriculture. I don’t know if thats a good thing, I doubt.
- Kuwait ranks 1st in Largest consumption of energy per head (oil). UAE is second, the US is 5th.
- Finally, Kuwait ranks 5th in most crowded road networks. Qatar is first, Hong Kong second and Germany third.
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52 Comments, add your own...
1. AbdulKareem | December 28th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Yea, those figures kinda go hand in hand with the computer illiteracy here. And yes, it is bad, considering the fact that Kuwait is a wealthy country and yet it getting topped on from Eastern European countries (I don’t have anything against those countries either, just pointing out the truth).
2. AbdulKareem | December 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Come to think of it, how was the survey taken? Is it the total amount of computers in country X, or is it the percentage of the total population that own computers?
3. 3azeez | December 28th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
it cant be accurate. for example about two thirds of Kuwait’s population are temporary workers, most of them cheap labor who are here for few years only.
another thing, how did they get their figures? did they take into account the computers built in the local market? brand names computers are not popular in kuwait because they’re over priced compared to the same brands being sold abroad.
4. Marcel | December 28th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
“it cant be accurate. for example about two thirds of Kuwait’s population are temporary workers, most of them cheap labor who are here for few years only.”
Excuses, excuses….
Yes! We have become 4th :-)
Anyone in Kuwait want to buy a Schneider 64 ?
5. Rayboy | December 28th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
how come India is not there?
6. ISF-Man | December 28th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
hahaha apparently everyone in Israel has 1.2 computers :P
7. Marcel | December 28th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
@ Rainboy
Do they have Internet in India? ;-)
8. Marcel | December 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Sorry, no Rainboy but at Rayboy of course..
May be we’ve got enough computers; apparently not enough glasses.
9. NAWAF | December 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
israel number 1, how that happened?!!!!1
I dont think it’s accurate
10. wi-fi | December 28th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
waw .. look at the diffrent between united states and britain .
11. Don Veto | December 28th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I doubt this survey, everyone, without exceptions, I know has a comp or 2 or even more.
12. Bburn | December 28th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Mark,
There is no such country as Slovania. My guess is you meant Slovenia. Also, once you realize that Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia and the Czech Rep. are European Union and Schengen states you won’t feel bad about Kuwait being placed there, especially considering the fact that software development in those countries is on the rise, notably in Poland, Ukraine and Czech Rep..
Also for everyone’s information, Czech Rep., Slovenia, Slovakia are Central Europe and not Eastern Europe.
13. Armani Exchanger | December 28th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
That’s unbelievable!!!
Japaen ranked 11 no way man that’s wrong!
14. .grg | December 28th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
the economist cant spell Canada properly :P
15. Dave | December 28th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Doesn’t strike me as remotely unbelievable. Have you ever been to Japan? Aging population with little interest in computers is why Japan is lower down the list. And Israel has a very small population, relatively affluent and with a rapidly growing tech industry – factors that explain why they are top.
I’d imagine the list is very accurate.
16. Khaled | December 28th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
It’s 2006 numbers … Saudi Arabia only 13.6? They didn’t count all my computers :>
17. giggles | December 28th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
My guess it that when they finally get a grip on the unreliability of the net, and actually get some decent sbscription rates, the numbers will go up.
18. Khalid Al-Zanki | December 28th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Strange Numbers! I am sure there is something wrong..
@Khaled – they didnt count my computers too ;o) LOL..
19. Khaled | December 28th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
What does the Candians think about it :p
I want to see the 2008/2007 numbers .. the Saudi Stock Market Boom caused a lot of people to get into computers :p
@Khalid indeed
20. teach | December 28th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Who is first in CO2 emissions?
21. Mark | December 28th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
UAE
22. gman | December 28th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I did my part for the the ranking with 8 Macs @ home ;-)
23. Mark | December 28th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
what counts as a computer? is an iPhone a computer? I have an Audrey does that count as a computer?
24. gman | December 28th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
for me mac’s with Iphones it’s 10
25. AlleyCat | December 29th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Most of the people who commented were more concernd about the number relating to computer ownership… I was more concerned about Kuwait being 2nd in CO2 emissions and being the largest in consumption of energy… embarrassing i tell you…
26. gman | December 29th, 2008 at 1:48 am
I’m more disappointed that you didn’t recognized it before… No catalytic converters on cars, cars from 30 years ago on the streets with fuel consumptions of 25 liters and more, people who absolutely don’t care about environment at all, no charges for energy consumption in apartments and so on…..
27. july74 | December 29th, 2008 at 2:35 am
The Economist not only doesn’t know how to spell Canada but their figures aren’t updated. The UAE is currently 2nd in CO2 emission per capita, Qatar is first (with almost double the amount of the UAE) and Kuwait is 3rd followed by Bahrain and the USA falls in 5th.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/env_co2_emi_percap-environment-co2-emissions-per-capita
In 2008 the UAE introduced mandatory green building laws and regulations and already work on the world’s first zero carbon city called Masdar has begun.
Hopefully Kuwait will follow suit soon
28. 3azeez | December 29th, 2008 at 2:36 am
about the comment in the update… are they comparing kuwait with the rest of the world? or is it only gcc thing?
29. NAWAF | December 29th, 2008 at 7:35 am
where can i buy the ebook from?
30. organic kuwait | December 29th, 2008 at 8:41 am
i just received my new imac yesterday..
31. TanGo | December 29th, 2008 at 9:25 am
thank you Mark, very interesting link,,
@nawaf > follow the Link to the Economist and you’ll see instructions where to buy the ebook..
32. Saeed Al Madani | December 29th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Those facts are really interesting, are there further details supporting those statements?
33. Mark | December 29th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
3azeez: compared to the world
NAWAF: I got mine from ebooks.com
34. holla | December 29th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Bburn for your info there is no such thing as central europe.
n 4 all da h8erz, if u dnt like it GTFO off kuwiat
35. b-relaxed | December 29th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Kuwait ranks 1st in Largest consumption of energy per head (oil).
according to wikipedia we rank #7 in energy consumption although we have no big industries going on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_energy_consumption_per_capita
and #8 in electricity consumption
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_electricity_consumption
@ holla, no one will listen to a “l771″ punk who can’t even spell correctly.
36. khaled | December 29th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
anyone know of sheesha delivery in kuwait?
37. holla | December 29th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sarcasm
38. Bburn | December 29th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
holla,
information for your limited brain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe
39. Khalid S | December 29th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
It would be interesting if the readers filled out some sort of carbon footprint calculator, could be a start towards educating the masses in q8. Although I bet people there would be trying to outdo each other with the biggest footprints.
Its also worth checking out the WWF living planet report 2008 for some similar stats:
its free at :
http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/lpr_2008.pdf
40. Anonymous | December 29th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
With the direction we’ve been heading for the last 50 years, no wonder these are the results we have now. Keep in mind that it’s only going to get worse. *sigh*
41. RaZ | December 29th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
the injured and congestion where qatar is first is because its per km of road, and they dont have much, and the little they do have the jam it and crash on it hehe
42. miss ghesquiere | December 30th, 2008 at 12:02 am
and every damn person has a flipping SUV! cause they “love it”.
43. Anonymous | December 30th, 2008 at 12:05 am
1st in Largest Consumption per head?? We’re not even that big of a country or that attractive to tourists, and we rank first?? :S
44. holla | December 30th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Bburn: Are you seriously citing wikipedia? From your shitty source:
QUOTE:This article or section contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed
Just because some worthless eastern europeans make up silly names for themselves doesn’t mean we have to use them.
45. holla | December 30th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Oh look, I found another nice quote under the DEFINITION section from that lovely article:
OUOTE:This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008).
46. #10001 | December 30th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Is there a number for ppl who got NERVOUS BREAKDOWN from the slow Internet connaction ? :I
* weeps seeing this site open *
47. dilly | December 30th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Where do the smokers stand???
48. M | December 30th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
i think you should post something about the new palestinian issue. it is a humanitarian crisis. for e.g. to donate to Kuwait Red Crescent Society.
their website
http://www.krcs.net/
thank you
49. radiant guy | December 30th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I don’t really think it’s true, what’s their sources?
50. bdayer | December 31st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
how ironic people base their decisions on one legitimate source. Mike if you were living in the US, you would be kicking back and forth between presses and other publishing. You just cant base your decision on one single source. Now you just said that Kuwait needs more computer, you truly believe that it needs more computers, using only 1 source. If you did a research about Kuwait having more computers, I would have failed you.
I’m sorry. But this is what would happen in true academia!
51. bdayer | December 31st, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Sorry meant mark, Mark and not mike. Been with mike, but first time to come across a lebo named ‘Mark’, nice to meet ya!. sorry for referring to u in the wrong name.
52. charlie | January 5th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Diabetes doesnt surprise me, its a FAT nation, on par with America for obesity at around 25% of the population. 25%?! Can you imagine..
Many kids here are developing type 2 diabetes cause they each so much sugary crap, and many will die before their parents.
Yea the CO2 emissions doesnt surprise me, I think its a shame that many people are so gluttonous and spend so much money on shallow possessions, when they have the cash to make a difference.
Possessions weighhh you down I tell ya.
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