Demographics of Saudi Arabia

This article is about the people inhabiting Saudi Arabia. For people of ethnic Saudi Arabian origin, see Saudi Arabian people.
Demographics of Saudi Arabia

Saudi traders.
Population 31,000,000 (2016January)
Growth rate 1.49% (2014)
Birth rate 18.78 births/1,000 population (2014)
Death rate 3.32 deaths/1,000 population (2014)
Life expectancy 74.82 years
 • male 72.79 years
 • female 76.94 years (2014)
Fertility rate 2.17 children born/woman (2014)
Infant mortality rate 14.58 deaths/1,000
Age structure
0–14 years 27.6%
15–64 years 69.2%
65 and over 3.2%
Sex ratio
At birth 1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years 1.22 male(s)/female
65 and over 1.08 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality noun: Saudi(s) adjective: Saudi
Major ethnic Saudis
Language
Spoken Arabic

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Saudi Arabia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Saudi Arabia, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Saudi Arabia's population as of the April 2010 census was 27,136,977: 18,707,576 Saudi nationals and 8,429,401 non-nationals.[1] About 51% of the population is under the age of 25 (as of Feb 2012).[2] Until the 1960s, most of the population was nomadic or seminomadic; due to rapid economic and urban growth, more than 95% of the population is now settled. 80% of Saudis live in three major urban centers—Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. [3] Some cities and oases have densities of more than 1,000 people per square kilometer (2,600/mile²). Saudi Arabia's population is characterized by rapid growth and a large cohort of youths.

Saudi Arabia hosts one of the pillars of Islam, which obliges all Muslims to make the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once during their lifetime if they are able to do so. The cultural environment in Saudi Arabia is highly conservative; the country adheres to a strict interpretation of Islamic religious law (Sharia). Cultural presentations must conform to narrowly defined standards of ethics. Men and women are not permitted to attend public events together and are segregated in the work place.

Most Saudis are ethnically Arabs, the majority of whom immigrated as pilgrims and reside in the Hejaz region along the Red Sea coast such as Jeddah, Mecca and Medina. According to a random survey, most would-be Saudis come from the Subcontinent and Arab countries.[4] Many Arabs from nearby countries are employed in the kingdom. There also are significant numbers of Asian expatriates, mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was also a significant community of South Korean migrant labourers, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but most have since returned home; the South Korean government's statistics showed only 1,200 of their nationals living in the kingdom as of 2005.[5][6] There are more than 100,000 Westerners in Saudi Arabia, most of whom live in private compounds in the major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dhahran. The government prohibits non-Muslims from entering the cities of Mecca and Medinah.

Vital statistics

UN estimates[7]

Period Live births per year Deaths per year Natural change per year CBR1 CDR1 NC1 TFR1 IMR1
1950–1955 159 000 81 000 78 000 47.9 24.3 23.5 7.18 204.3
1955–1960 180 000 83 000 98 000 47.6 21.9 25.7 7.18 183.1
1960–1965 210 000 86 000 124 000 47.6 19.6 28.1 7.26 162.6
1965–1970 248 000 88 000 159 000 46.9 16.7 30.2 7.26 139.2
1970–1975 304 000 88 000 216 000 46.4 13.4 33.0 7.30 106.6
1975–1980 378 000 86 000 292 000 44.1 10.0 34.1 7.28 78.2
1980–1985 491 000 86 000 405 000 42.7 7.5 35.2 7.02 57.0
1985–1990 562 000 86 000 476 000 38.3 5.8 32.4 6.22 42.3
1990–1995 579 000 85 000 495 000 33.5 4.9 28.6 5.45 30.2
1995–2000 573 000 87 000 486 000 29.7 4.5 25.2 4.51 22.2
2000–2005 545 000 91 000 454 000 24.7 4.1 20.6 3.54 19.4
2005–2010 569 000 98 000 470 000 22.1 3.8 18.3 3.03 18.5
1 CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births

Births and deaths [8]

Year Population Live births Deaths Natural increase Crude birth rate Crude death rate Rate of natural increase TFR
2009 601 949 98 289 503 660 3,04
2010 27 136 977 100 073 2,98
2011 102 066 2,93
2012 104 195 2,87
2013 607 806 106 521 501 285

Population pyramid[9]

Population statistics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
19503,121,000—    
19604,041,000+29.5%
19705,772,000+42.8%
19809,801,000+69.8%
199016,139,000+64.7%
200020,045,000+24.2%
201027,448,000+36.9%
201531,540,000+14.9%
Source:[10]
Saudi Arabia population density in 2010 (people per km2)

The following Saudi Arabia Census 2007 [11]

Young population

Estimates of the young population of Saudi Arabia vary. Carlye Murphy gives the figure of 51% of the population being under the age of 25 (as of February 2012).[2] The Economist magazine estimates 60% of the Saudi population under the age of 21 (dated March 3, 2012).[12]

Age structure

0–14 years: 32.4%

15–64 years: 64.8%

65 years and over: 2.8%

Total Population 23,980,834 (2007 Census Population)

Median age

total: 25.3 years

male: 26.4 years

female: 23.9 years (2011 est.)

Population growth rate

1.536% (2011 est)

Total fertility rate

2.26 children born/woman. (2012 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.15 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.33 male(s)/female
55–64 years: 1.2 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.08 male(s)/female
total population: 1.21 male(s)/female (2014 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total: 75.29 years male: 73.51 years female: 77.16 years (2011 est.) [13]

Urbanization

85% of total population (2011)

Nationality

noun: Saudi(s)
adjective: Saudi or Saudi Arabian

Ethnic groups

The ethnic composition of Saudi citizens is 90% Arab and 10% Afro-Asian.[14] Most Saudis live in Hejaz (35%), Najd (28%), and the Eastern Province (15%).[15]

Community Description
Arabs 90%
Afro-Asians 10%[16]

Foreigners

Saudi Arabia's Central Department of Statistics & Information estimated the foreign population at the end of 2014 at 33% (10.1 million).[17] The CIA Factbook estimated that as of 2013 foreign nationals living in Saudi Arabia made up about 21% of the population.[18] Other sources report differing estimates.[19] Indian: 1.3 million, Pakistani: 1.5 million,[20] Egyptian: 900,000, Yemeni: 800,000, Bangladeshi: 500,000, Filipino: 500,000, Jordanian/Palestinian: 260,000, Indonesian: 250,000, Sri Lankan: 350,000, Sudanese: 250,000, Syrian: 2,100,000, Madhesi Nepalese : 199,757 [21] and Turkish: 100,000.[22] There are around 100,000 Westerners in Saudi Arabia, most of whom live in compounds or gated communities.

Foreign Muslims[23] who have resided in the kingdom for ten years may apply for Saudi citizenship. (Priority is given to holders of degrees in various scientific fields,[24] and exception made for Palestinians who are excluded unless married to Saudi national, because of Arab League instructions barring the Arab states from granting them citizenship.)

As Saudi population grows and oil export revenues stagnate, pressure for "Saudization" (the replacement of foreign workers with Saudis) has grown, and the Saudi government hopes to decrease the number of foreign nationals in the country.[25] Saudi Arabia expelled 800,000 Yemenis in 1990 and 1991.[26] and has built a Saudi–Yemen barrier against an influx of illegal immigrants and against the smuggling of drugs and weapons.[27] In November 2013, Saudi Arabia expelled thousands of illegal Ethiopians from the Kingdom. Various Human Rights entities have criticised Saudi Arabia's handling of the issue.[28]

Religion

The government does not conduct census on religion, but estimates put the percentage of the majority Sunnis at 85–90% while Shiites, who comprise the largest Muslim minority, at 10–15% of the population.[29] Shiites (Twelvers) are primarily concentrated in the Eastern Province, where they constitute over two-third of the population. Other smaller communities (Ismailis and Zaidis) reside in the south, with Ismailis constituting around half of the population of the province of Nejran, and a small percentage of the Holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina. There is also a Christian population of uncertain size. According to Gallup atheists account for 5% of the population with a total non-religious population of 19%.[30][31][32]

Languages

The official language of Saudi Arabia is Arabic. The three main regional variants spoken by Saudis are Hejazi Arabic (about 6 million speakers[33]), Najdi Arabic (about 8 million speakers[34]), and Gulf Arabic (about 0.2 million speakers[35]). Saudi Sign Language is the principal language of the deaf community. The large expatriate communities also speak their own languages, the most numerous of which are Indonesian (850,000), Filipino/Tagalog (700,000), Rohingya (400,000), Urdu (380,000), and Egyptian Arabic (300,000).[36][37]

References

  1. ↑ "Saudi Gazette: Nov. 24, 2010 – Census shows Kingdom's population at more than 27 million"
  2. 1 2 Murphy, Caryle. "Saudi Arabia’s Youth and the Kingdom’s Future". February 7, 2012. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Environmental Change and Security Program. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  3. ↑ House, Karen Elliott (2012). On Saudi Arabia : Its People, past, Religion, Fault Lines and Future. Knopf. p. 69.
  4. ↑ Siraj Wahab (30 July 2009). "It’s another kind of Saudization". Arab News. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  5. ↑ Seok, Hyunho (1991). "Korean migrant workers to the Middle East". In Gunatilleke, Godfrey (ed.). Migration to the Arab World: Experience of Returning Migrants. United Nations University Press. pp. 56–103. ISBN 9280807455.
  6. ↑ "President Roh Moo-hyun's Official Visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". Cheongwadae (Office of the President), Republic of Korea. 2007. Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved 2007-04-23.
  7. ↑ World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision
  8. ↑ "United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics". Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "Demographic Yearbook". UN Data. United Nations. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  11. ↑ http://www.cdsi.gov.sa
  12. ↑ "Out of the comfort zone". The Economist. March 3, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Saudi Arabia - Life expectancy at birth 2016 - countryeconomy.com". countryeconomy.com. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Saudi Arabia". The World Factbook. Cia.gov.
  15. ↑ "Saudi Arabia Population Statistics 2011 (Arabic)" (PDF). p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 15, 2013.
  16. ↑ "The World Factbook". Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "KSA population is 30.8m; 33% expats". ArabNews.com. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  18. ↑ Saudi Arabia entry at The World Factbook
  19. ↑ جريدة الرياض. "جريدة الرياض : سكان المملكة 27 مليوناً بينهم 8 ملايين مقيم". Alriyadh.com.
  20. ↑ "Number of Pakistani expats exceeds 1.5 m". Arabnews.com. 29 August 2012.
  21. ↑ "Total Nepali people from Terai working in Saudi Arabia : IOM Report 2014".
  22. ↑ "Arab versus Asian migrant workers in the GCC countries" (PDF). p. 10.
  23. ↑ Articles 12.4 and 14.1 of the Executive Regulation of Saudi Citizenship System: "1954 Saudi Arabian Citizenship System" (PDF).
  24. ↑ 2004 law passed by Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers. "Expatriates Can Apply for Saudi Citizenship in Two-to-Three Months". Arabnews.com. 14 February 2005.
  25. ↑ P.K. Abdul Ghafour (21 October 2011) 3 million expats to be sent out gradually at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 November 2011): "Nearly three million expatriate workers will have to leave the Kingdom in the next few years as the Labor Ministry has put a 20% ceiling on the country's guest workers"
  26. ↑ "Yemen's point of no return". The Guardian. 1 April 2009.
  27. ↑ Mohammed al-Kibsi (12 January 2008). "Saudi authorities erect barriers on Yemeni border". Yemen Observer.
  28. ↑ "Saudi Arabia: Amnesty International calls for end to arrests and expulsions « Persecution of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community". Persecutionofahmadis.org.
  29. ↑ "CNN arabic.com". CNN.
  30. ↑ "Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism" (PDF). Gallup. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  31. ↑ "A surprising map of where the world’s atheists live". Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  32. ↑ "Atheism explodes in Saudi Arabia, despite state-enforced ban". Salon. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  33. ↑ Arabic, Hijazi Spoken. Ethnologue
  34. ↑ Arabic, Najdi Spoken. Ethnologue
  35. ↑ Arabic, Gulf Spoken. Ethnologue
  36. ↑ "Migrant Communities in Saudi Arabia", Bad Dreams: Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch, 2004
  37. ↑ Saudi Arabia. Ethnologue

External links

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