Demographics of Saudi Arabia

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

Population pyramid.

Saudi Arabia's July 2006 population is estimated to be over 27 million; including about 5.5 million resident foreigners. Until the 1960s, most of the population was nomadic or seminomadic; due to rapid economic and urban growth, more than 95% of the population now is settled. 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 is known as the birthplace of Islam, which in the century following Muhammad's death in 632, conquered territory west up to Spain and east up to India. Islam 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 (Shari'a). 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 Arab. Some are of mixed ethnic origin and are descended from Turks, Iranians, Indonesians, Indians, Africans, and others, most of whom immigrated as pilgrims and reside in the Hijaz region along the Red Sea coast. 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[1]^[2] There are fewer than 100,000 Westerners in Saudi Arabia, most of who live in private compounds in few cities such as Dhahran and Ras Tanura. The government prohibits non-Muslims from living in Mecca and Medinah.

1 Population
2 Age structure
3 Median age
4 Population growth rate
5 Birth rate
6 Death rate
7 Net migration rate
8 Sex ratio
9 Infant mortality rate
10 Life expectancy at birth
11 Total fertility rate
12 Urbanisation
13 Nationality
14 Ethnic groups
15 Religions
16 References
17 External links

28,601,038
note: includes 5,576,076 non-nationals (July 2007 est.) [1]

0-14 years: 38.2% (male 5,149,960/female 4,952,138)
15-64 years: 59.4% (male 8,992,348/female 6,698,633)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 334,694/female 289,826) (2007 est.)

total: 21.4 years male: 22.9 years female: 19.6 years (2007)

2.06% (2007 est.)

29.1 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

2.55 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

-5.95 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.34 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.16 male(s)/female
total population: 1.21 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

total: 12.4 deaths/1,000 live births male: 14.2 deaths/1,000 live births female: 10.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

total: [2] 75.8 years male: 73.8 years female: 78.0 years (2007 est.)

3.94 children born/woman (2007 est.)

About 88% of the population of Saudi Arabia is urban.

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

Arab 90%, other 10%

Islam is the state religion. The percentage of Muslim citizens is virtually 99.7%. Sunnis represent approximately 80% while Shiites represent approximately 20% of the population[3]. Most Shiites live in the oil rich Eastern Province and are concentrated in some cities and villages such as Qatif, Hasa and Najran. See also: Shiites in Saudi Arabia

Languages: Arabic.

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 78.8%
male: 84.8%
female: 70.8% (2003 est.)

^ Seok, Hyunho (1991). "Korean migrant workers to the Middle East". Migration to the Arab World: Experience of Returning Migrants: 56-103, United Nations University Press. ISBN 9280807455.
^ President Roh Moo-hyun's Official Visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Cheongwadae (Office of the President), Republic of Korea (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-23.