Geography

Economics

Demographics

Military

Politics

Surface

Surface (in square kilometers)

Surface (in square miles)

Surface (water)

Water Surface (in square kilometers)

Water Surface (in square miles)

Share of water (%)

Temperature

Average temperature (in Celcius)

Average temperature (in Farenheit)

Average high temperature (in Celcius)

Average high temperature (in Farenheit)

Average low temperature (in Celcius)

Average low temperature (in Farenheit)

Rainfall

Average rainfall (mm)

Average rainfall (inch)

Distance to other capitals (kilometers)

Distance to other capitals (miles)

Proximity

Economic organizations

Gross Domestic Product (US$)

Gross Domestic Product per capita

Amount of memberships (economic organizations)

Absolute earnings for every 1$

Relative earnings

GDP in PPP per capita (in US$)

 

GDP in PPP per capita

Gross Domestic product (in million US$)

GDP per capita (in US$)

Surface GDP

GDP per square kilometer (in US$)

GDP per square mile(in US$)

Relative GDP in PPP

Population

Population density

Emigration

Immigration

Literacy

Health

Population density (in km2)

Population density (in mi2)

Religion

Christianity (share of the total population)

Islam (share of the total population)

Buddhism (share of the total population)

Hinduism (share of the total population)

Judaism (share of the total population)

Other religions (share of the total population)

Non-religious (share of the total population)

Military spending (in % of GDP)

Military spending

In total, Saudi Arabia spends US$61.867 million on its military, or 0.91 percent of its GDP. This makes Saudi Arabia the 5th highest military spender in the world and represents 3.2 percent of total global military expenditure. 

The military of Saudi Arabia, called the Saudi Armed Forces consists of an army, and Navy and an air force. Its main task is to protect the royal family as well as the external borders with other states.

Military membership

Saudi Arabia is also a member of 3 international military organizations. This makes it the 175th most militarily connected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations: 

  • Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 
  • International Atomic Energy Agency 
  • Non-Aligned Movement 

Military membership

International wars

Saudi Arabia has partaken in 13 international wars. These are: 

  • Najran conflict 1931-1931 
  • Saudi–Yemeni War 1934-1934 
  • Arab–Israeli War 1948-1949 
  • Invasion of Hamasa 1951-1955 
  • North Yemen Civil War 1961-1970 
  • Six-Day War 1967-1967 
  • Al-Wadiah War 1969-1969 
  • Iran–Iraq War 1980-1988 
  • Gulf War 1990-1991 
  • South Yemen insurgency 2009-present 
  • Syrian Civil War 2011-present 
  • Iraqi–Kurdish conflict 2017-2017 
  • Persian Gulf crisis 2019-present 

Number of international wars fought

Military spending (in US$ million)

Membership (international political organizations)

In total, Saudi Arabia is a member of 12 international political organizations. This makes it the 94th most connected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations: 

  • Member state of the United Nations 
  • International Labour Organization 
  • Asia Cooperation Dialogue 
  • Gulf Cooperation Council 
  • Colombo Plan 
  • Asian–African Legal Consultative Organization 
  • International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property 

Political Membership

Democracy/dictatorship rating

Saudi Arabia is the 170th most democratic state in the world due to it being an absolute monarchy, its lack of civil rights, as well as discrimination against women and religions. 

Democracy/Dictatorship

The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in the form of an absolute monarchy where the king is head of state as well as head of government. The King is assisted by the Saudi Parliament which is hand-picked by the King. Its judicial branch follows the Islamic sharia laws.  

  • Arab League 

  • Organization of Islamic Cooperation 

  • UNIDROIT 

  • Interpol 

  • World Organization for Animal Health 

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If you want to know more about other states, click on the flag on the right to discover Senegal.

Saudi Arabia 

 As the largest state in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrain of Saudi Arabia is fairly diverse with a large flat plane along its northeast and a large mountain range along its southwestern part. Almost all of its terrain is covered by desert with the exception of its higher mountain area which has low vegetation. In total, Saudi Arabia borders seven other states with Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait to the north, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman to the east and Yemen to the south. 

It is the 12th largest state with a total surface area of 2.160.438 square kilometers or 834.150 square miles. This makes Saudi Arabia slightly smaller than Mexico and slightly larger than Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

It has a no large permanent bodies of water. 

 

Below, a graph is shown which displays the absolute amount of water of each state in square kilometers and square miles.

Most of its drinking water comes from desalination treatment plants which is also the main source of water for its limited agriculture. Locations with a long-distance to the sea only have access to deep water wells which are unfit for human consumption. 

The climate of Saudi Arabia is a desert climate with extremely hot summers and cool winters which sometimes produce snow. The average temperature is 24.9 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes Saudi Arabia the 61st warmest state in the world. 

The average high temperature is 30.3 degrees Celsius or 87 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The average low temperature is 18.5 degrees Celsius or 65.3 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Rainfall is virtually non-existing within its center, and other places along the coast receive most of their rainfall during its winter period between November and April. On average, Saudi Arabia receives 12.5 centimetres or 4.9 inches of rainfall per year which ranks it as the 189th highest in the world. 

The capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, is home to approximately 6 million people. The closest capital is Manama, Bahrain, with a distance of 414 kilometers or 257 miles. The capital that is the furthest removed is Apia, Samoa, with a distance of 15.807 kilometers or 9.822 miles.  

It has a GDP of US$738.392 million, which makes it the 21st highest in the world and represents 0.88 percent of total global GDP 

Its GDP per surface area is the 110th highest in the world with US$341.779 per square kilometer or US$885.203 per square mile.  

Its GDP per capita is the 40th highest in the world with US$21.472. 

The absolute earnings (GDP per capita) reflect the average yearly income. The figure below shows how much, on average, an inhabitant of another state earns for every $1 earned by a citizen of this state.

Its purchasing power parity per capita is the 23rd highest in the world with US$50.204. 

The relative Gross Domestic Product in Purchasing Power Parity compares the purchasing power of this state with that of the rest of the world. The graph on the left shows how much purchasing power of 1$ compared to the purchasing power of other states

With a total population of 34.4 million people, Saudi Arabia is the 40th most populous state in the world. Arab is its official language and most of its population are ethnically Arab. However, due to its economic prosperity, it has attracted people from all over the world. 

It has the 174th highest population density in the world with 16 people per square kilometer or 41 people per square mile.  

0.9 percent of the population, or just under 300,000 people have migrated to other states. This makes Saudi Arabia the 126th state with the highest number of emigrants and represents 0.12 percent of total global emigration. A smaller proportion of these migrants are refugees that seek asylum because they are persecuted by the Saudi state. 

Immigration is represented by 37 percent, or just over 12.5 million people. This makes Saudi Arabia the third state with the highest number of immigrants and represents 6 percent of total global immigration. Because of its economic prosperity, Saudi Arabia seeks to attract foreign workers, specialists as well as low skilled labourers in order to fill its labour demand. 

The literacy rate in Saudi Arabia stands at 94.5 percent which is the 98th highest in the world. This number is likely to increase in the coming decades because of an older in literate population. However, attaining a literacy rate above 99 percent is unlikely due to an enrolment discrepancy between boys and girls. 

The health care system in Saudi Arabia is a developed healthcare system which has made large strides over the last 50 years by increasing the life expectancy as well as decreasing deaths from communicable diseases. Noncommunicable diseases are currently the largest threat to the Saudi population and are mainly related to obesity. The average life expectancy is 75.71 years which is the 51st highest in the world. Women have an average life expectancy of 77.37 years, while men have an average life expectancy of 74.5 years. 

The government of Saudi Arabia does not provide freedom towards all religions. Islam is the recognized state religion, and other public displays of non-Islamic religions are punished by law. 

An estimated 3.7 percent of the Saudi population adheres to Christianity which makes it the 167th most Christian state in the world. It is argued that most of these Christians are being persecuted as well as being jailed for practicing their religion privately. 

 

On the right, the global share of Christians per state is displayed 

Islam is the largest religion in Saudi Arabia and is followed by 94.4 percent of the population. This makes Saudi Arabia the 25th most Islamic state in the world. The majority adheres to the Sunni branch of Islam with Wahhabism being the largest subbranch. 

Buddhism is represented by 0.3 percent of the population and are mainly naturalized migrant workers from Sri Lanka and China. 

Hinduism is represented by 0.9 percent of the population and also consists of naturalized migrants which mainly come from Nepal. 

Judaism is represented by 0.3 percent of the population and mostly consists of migrant workers.  

Other religions are represented by 0.4 percent of the population. 

Irreligion is represented by 0.47 percent of the population. It is estimated that this number is higher, but because of harsh punishment for leaving Islam as well as social stigma, the public figure is likely to remain low. 

Saudi Arabia 

Known for its vast oil reserves, as well as being the birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia, or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been in existence for more than 120 years. Before its establishment, the area was inhabited by the Arab people and later on received migrants along the Arab Peninsula. After the birth of Mohammed in 570, Islam started to be introduced at the start of the sixth century. After the spread of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was divided up into several kingdoms among which was the House of Saud that was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. After several uprisings against the Ottoman Empire, the House of Saud came out victorious in 1902 and fully united Saudi Arabia in 1932. Since then, Saudi Arabia discovered large oil reserves which, with the help of the United States, had given a large boost to its economy. Throughout the 20th century, the House of Saud has seen numerous internal coups and assassinations as well as border clashes with other states on the Arabian Peninsula. Its economy, however, has remained strong.

Since the discovery of oil, Saudi Arabia has become an oil extracting state which is heavily dependent on global oil prices. However, due to its proven reserves, it is able to influence global oil prices to a limited degree through international organizations such as OPEC. Over the last two decades, Saudi Arabia has started to diversify its economy with limited success. Most of the oil is exported to the United States with which it has the third largest company in the world. Most of its imports comes from China and United States which combined represent nearly 30 percent of all imports. 

Saudi Arabia is a member of 14 international economic organizations. This makes it the 67th most connected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations: 

  • African development Bank 
  • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank 
  • Bank for International Settlements 
  • Financial Action Task Force 
  • International Monetary Fund 
  • Islamic Development Bank 
  • OPEC   Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries  
  • World Bank Group 
  • World Customs Organization 
  • World Trade Organization 
  • International Renewable Energy Agency 
  • International Solar Alliance 
  • Group of 77 
  • G20