KUWAIT CITY: The expatriate population of Kuwait dropped 0.6 percent in the first half of 2009, bringing to an end 19 years of sharp increases in the oil-rich emirate, official figures revealed on Sunday.

The number of foreign residents dropped to 2.34 million from 2.355 million at the end of 2008, figures posted on the Public Authority for Civil Information showed. Their number at the end of 2007 stood at 2.345 million.

As a result of the fall, Kuwait’s population in the first half remained almost flat at 3.443 million.

The largest drop in population was recorded in 1990 when a majority of expatriates fled the emirate after Iraqi troops invaded under Saddam Hussein.

Foreigners, a majority of whom are Asians, still form 68 percent of Kuwait’s population, the figures showed. At 1.102 million Kuwaiti citizens accounted for 32 percent.

The contraction in the expatriate population stands in sharp contrast with the big rises of recent years. Between 2004 and 2008, when oil prices surged, the number of foreigners increased by 737,000.