Geography


    Source: This image is the intellectual property of Rei-artur. Redistribution under licence CC BY-SA 3.0

    Area : 2,150,000 km2 (0% water)
    Coastline: 2,640 km
    Coastline: sandy desert mainly, mountains to the southwest
    Highest point: Jabal Sawda’ 3,133 m (southwest Saudi Arabia)
    Climate: Dry desert with extremely high temperatures
    Geographical population distribution: About 25% of the population is concentrated in Riyadh, Jeddah and Mecca. The southeastern part of the country borders Yemen, Oman and the UAE and is virtually uninhabited (except for the area on the western part of the Yemen border)
    Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper

    Demographics

    Population: 34,813.870 (2020)

    Annual population growth: 1.6% (2020)

    Population estimate in 2025: 9,319,000

    Population distribution by age group (2020)
    0-14 – 25%
    15-64 – 72%
    65+ – 3%

    Fertility rate (births per woman): 2.3 (2019)

    Birth rate (births per 1000 people): 17 (2019)

    Death rate (deaths per 1000 people): 4 (2019)

    Median age: 30.0 years (2015)

    Life expectancy (at birth): 75 years (2019)
    Males – 74 years
    Females – 77 years

    Net migration: 675,000 people (2017)

    Language: Arabic is the official language of Saudi Arabia

    Religious groups: Sunni Muslims 81.9%, Shia Muslims 9.3%, Catholic Christians 3.9%, Hindus 2.3%, Other Christians 0.5%, Other Muslims 0.5%, Non-religious/atheists 0.7%, Other religions 0.9% (2015)

    Ethnic groups: Arabs 87.1%, Afro-Asians 12.9% (2013)

    Economy

    GDP: $700.12 bil (2020)

    GDP per capita: $20,110.3 (2020)

    GDP annual growth rate: -5.6% (2020)

    Public debt (% GDP): 23.2% (2019)

    Inflation (CPI): 3.4% (2020)

    Unemployment: 8.2% (2020)

    Imports: $144.3 bil (2019)
    5 largest import partners (% total imports - 2019): China 18.75%, United States 11.85%, United Arab Emirates 7.18%, Germany 4.85%, Japan 4.54%

    Exports: $251.8 bil (2019)
    5 largest export partners (% total exports - 2019): Unspecified 80.39%, China 3.71%, United Arab Emirates 1.74%, India 1.50%, Singapore 1.36%

    Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum)
    70.0/100 (2019 – θέση 36/141)

    Index of Economic Freedom (Heritage Foundation)
    66.0/100 (2021 – position 63/180)

    Income Inequality Index (Gini – World Bank)
    -

    Prosperity Index (Legatum Institute)
    57.94/100 (2021 – position 75/167)

    Military Power

    Active personnel: 225,000
    Army: 75,000
    Navy: 14,000
    Airforce: 36,000
    National Guard: 100,000

    Defence expenditure (% GDP): 8.4%

    Politics and Government

    Form of government: Monarchy

    King: Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2015)

    Executive branch: The King has absolute executive authority as he is the head of state and of the government. All ministers are appointed by the King and many of them are members of the royal family. condolences

    Legislative branch: The Parliament of Saudi Arabia is predominantly a consultative body that is consists of 150 members, of which 30 are women. All members of Parliament are appointed by the King for a 4-year term and only the King may pass or enforce laws.

    Judicial branch: The Saudi court system is based on Islamic law (Sharia) for all civil and criminal cases. Since 2007 the court system is comprised of the Supreme Court, Appelate courts (second instance) and First-instance courts. Firs-instance courts include general, criminal, business, labour and family court. The King is at the top of the judiciary as he acts as the final court of appeal.

    Parliamentary parties (seats): There are no political parties

    Last elections: Local elections 2015 – The 2015 local elections were the third in the history of the Kingdom (the first were in 2005 and the second in 2011). Voter turnout was about 47% out of 1,408,096 registered voters

    Next elections: Unknown

    Rule of Law - Human Rights

    Corruption Perceptions Index (Transparency International)
    53/100 (2020 - position 52/180)

    Rule of Law Index (World Justice Project)
    -

    Global Terrorism Index (Institute for Economics & Peace)
    5.238/10 (2019 – position 30/163)

    Fragile States Index (Fund For Peace)
    69.7/120 (2021 – position 93/179)

    Democracy Index (Economist Intelligence Unit)
    2.08/10 (2020 – position 156/167)

    Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders)
    62.73/100 (2019 – position 170/180)

    Freedom in the World Index (Freedom House)
    24/100 (2021)

    Sources

    United Nations (UN – Population Division, UNdata, UNcomtrade), World Bank, Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED – St. Louis Fed), Composition of Religious and Ethnic Group Project (CREG – Cline Center for Advanced Social Research, University of Illinois), Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS – Military Balance), The Contemporary Review of the Middle East, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), NationMaster