This statistic shows the total population of Saudi Arabia from 2020 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, Saudi Arabia's total population amounted to 35.3 million inhabitants. Population of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, the second largest Arab state, is a nation in development. As a result of the economic stability, gross domestic product (GDP) has grown by about 520 billion U.S. dollars over the past decade. This comes as a result of Saudi Arabia’s positive trade balance and the fact that Saudi Arabia exports about 2.5 times more goods than it imports. Therefore, it is no surprise that Saudi Arabia has constantly had a very high GDP growth in the past decade. In a developing country, there is a tendency for the population to move to more urban cities where the employment rates are higher. The degree of urbanization in Saudi Arabia has grown by around 2 percent from 2002 to 2012. Some of the biggest cities in Saudi Arabia have witnessed the urbanization changes first-hand. The capital of Saudi Arabia and the biggest city, Ar-Riyad, is home to about five million inhabitants. However, the high number of illegal immigrants in Saudi Arabia also accounts for the total population. More awareness to health risks and better living conditions have increased the life expectancy at birth in Saudi Arabia by about 3 years in the last decade. With a rapidly growing total population, it has grown by around 8 million inhabitants over the past decade, the government has set some rules to avoid overcrowding and overpopulation. The fertility rate in Saudi has steadily decreased over the past years in order to attempt to control the rapidly growing population.

In Saudi Arabia, the expected public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021 was 32.7 percent, compared to 34.3 percent in 2020. The debt to GDP ratio exceeded government's target of 30 percent as part of the National Transformation Program 2020, and was increased to 50 percent on March 2020 during the pandemic.

In a survey on the state of happiness in Saudi Arabia conducted by Ipsos, 34 percent of respondents stated that the state of the economy does or could give them the greatest happiness. Globally, 73 percent of respondents stated that this was a source of happiness for them.

This statistic gives information on the share of internet users who watch online videos as of January 2018, by country. During the survey, it was found that 85 percent of U.S. internet users watched online video content on any device. Saudi Arabia was ranked first with a 95 percent online video penetration among the online population. Saudi Arabia also ranks highest for daily online video access.

Engagement with online video content in the U.S.– additional information

In the United States, YouTube ranks first as market leader among video and entertainment websites, leaving VoD providers Netflix and Hulu staggering behind.

Online videos include a variety of types from a six second long Vine to a full length movie and can be accessed via any device with an internet connection. The weekly time spent by U.S. users watching video content on smartphones has grown steadily over time. The results reveal that smartphone users aged 18 to 24 years spent more time watching video content than any other age group as they spent on average 83 minutes consuming videos per week. In contrast, smartphone users aged between 50 and 64 years only spent an average of 36 minutes per week watching mobile video content.

According to data published by Ipsos, around 70 percent of respondents in Saudi Arabia agreed that the U.S. offers a political and economic model that they wanted their country to emulate. This was above the total average of all the countries surveyed, which was 41 percent.

In 2024, the ratio of government expenditure to GDP in Saudi Arabia stood at approximately 33.78 percent. Between 1990 and 2024, the figure dropped by around 5.50 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory. The forecast shows the ratio will steadily decline by about 3.83 percentage points from 2024 to 2030.Shown here is the general government expenditure as a share of the national gross domestic product. As defined by the International Monetary Fund, the general government expenditure consists of total expense and the net acquisition of nonfinancial assets. The gross domestic product represents the total value of final goods and services produced during a year.

As of February 2025, 5.56 billion individuals worldwide were internet users, which amounted to 67.9 percent of the global population. Of this total, 5.24 billion, or 63.9 percent of the world's population, were social media users. Global internet usage Connecting billions of people worldwide, the internet is a core pillar of the modern information society. Northern Europe ranked first among worldwide regions by the share of the population using the internet in 20254. In The Netherlands, Norway and Saudi Arabia, 99 percent of the population used the internet as of February 2025. North Korea was at the opposite end of the spectrum, with virtually no internet usage penetration among the general population, ranking last worldwide. Eastern Asia was home to the largest number of online users worldwide – over 1.34 billion at the latest count. Southern Asia ranked second, with around 1.2 billion internet users. China, India, and the United States rank ahead of other countries worldwide by the number of internet users. Worldwide internet user demographics As of 2024, the share of female internet users worldwide was 65 percent, five percent less than that of men. Gender disparity in internet usage was bigger in African countries, with around a ten percent difference. Worldwide regions, like the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe, showed a smaller usage gap between these two genders. As of 2024, global internet usage was higher among individuals between 15 and 24 years old across all regions, with young people in Europe representing the most significant usage penetration, 98 percent. In comparison, the worldwide average for the age group 15–24 years was 79 percent. The income level of the countries was also an essential factor for internet access, as 93 percent of the population of the countries with high income reportedly used the internet, as opposed to only 27 percent of the low-income markets.

According to a survey on January 2021 about consumer sentiments in Saudi Arabia, 48 percent of respondents believed that the current state of their economy was neither strong nor weak. The main concern for more than 50 percent of the respondents was the COVID-19 virus, followed by new taxation policies.

The number of visitors to the United States from Saudi Arabia increased by around four percent from 2023 to 2024. In 2024, the number of visitors to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia reached 101,283, up from the previous year's total 97,605.

This statistic shows the age structure in Saudi Arabia from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, approximately 24.1 percent of Saudi Arabia's population were aged between 0 and 14 years, about 73.08 percent were aged between 15 and 64 years, and about 2.82 percent were aged between 65 years.

In a survey on the state of happiness in Saudi Arabia conducted by Ipsos, 35 percent of respondents stated that moving to another country does or could give them some happiness. Globally, 44 percent of respondents stated that this was a source of happiness for them.

As of February 2025, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the countries with the highest TikTok reach, with virtually 138.2 percent and 123.1 percent of the population aged 18 and older using the popular social video app, respectively. Peru followed, with a reach of 99.3 percent. The United States saw around 49.6 percent of its digital population using TikTok, with over 120 million users in the country.

This statistic presents the results of a survey on the Saudi Arabian perception of the United States as a future positive influencer on world affairs as 2019. According to data published by Ipsos, around 66 percent of respondents in Saudi Arabia thought that the U.S. would have a positive influence on world affairs over the next decade. Approximately 29 percent of respondents thought that the United States' influence on world affairs would become strongly positive.

In a survey on the state of happiness in Saudi Arabia conducted by Ipsos, 47 percent of respondents stated that their satisfaction with the direction of their lives does or could give them the greatest happiness. Globally, 84 percent of respondents stated that their satisfaction with the direction of their lives was a source of happiness for them.

In a survey conducted in 2023, 37 percent of surveyed gaming industry professionals in Saudi Arabia were somewhat satisfied with the level of government support they were receiving. 31 percent of professionals were neutral to the level of government support received. 9 percent of respondents were unsatisfied with the amount of government support for their industry.

In a survey on the state of happiness in Saudi Arabia conducted by Ipsos, 34 percent of respondents stated that their available free time does or could give them the greatest happiness. Globally, 82 percent of respondents stated that their free time was a source of happiness for them.

In 2024, Saudi Arabia's estimated unemployment rate amounted to approximately 3.9 percent. This decrease is down almost 2.8 percent from the year before. The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed workers in the total labor force. Where are people employed? Saudi Arabia's population is around 33 million inhabitants, and of the employed workforce, most have jobs in the oil and gas industry. This is to be expected, as the economy is based on the production and trade of oil, and as such the oil sector has a value of about 1.1 trillion Saudi riyals. Facing challenges Saudi Arabia has several economic challenges to face, including the environmentally disastrous impact of its oil and natural gas production; state-funded company Saudi Aramco is listed at the top polluter worldwide. Socially, Saudi Arabia has had a tumultuous past in terms of women's rights, where women only gained the right to drive in 2018 thanks to a series of reforms and compose just 18 percent of the labor force.

The United States accounts for **** percent of global crude oil production, making it the largest oil producing country in the world. Crude oil production includes crude oil, shale oil, oil sand and NGLs (natural gas liquids: liquid content of natural gas in which the condensate is recovered separately). It excludes liquid fuels from other sources such as biomass and coal derivatives. Global crude oil supply Apart from the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia are among the world’s largest producers of crude oil, each accounting for a share around ** percent. Saudi Arabia's oil production has amounted to roughly ********** barrels of oil per day for the past few years. Unsurprisingly, these countries are also some of the world’s largest oil consumers. Saudi Arabia consumes around *********** barrels per day, while the U.S. uses about ********** barrels. U.S. oil trade In the past, the U.S. relied heavily on oil imports from OPEC member countries like Saudi Arabia. However, due to an increase in domestic production output following technological advances, U.S. crude oil imports decreased by over one third since 2005. Conversely, U.S. petroleum exports skyrocketed, reaching ************* barrels per day in 2023.

As of early 2025, Saudi Arabia had the highest social media penetration rate globally out of selected countries and territories, with a whopping 102 percent. UAE and South Korea followed, with 96 percent and 94 percent of active usage reach, respectively. Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria had some of the lowest social network penetration rates in the world, with less than 26 percent of the population accessing social media in each country. How many people use social media? Although the top three countries with the highest social media penetration rates globally were in Eastern and Southwestern Asia in 2023, the region with the greatest social media reach was Northern Europe with 83.6 percent, followed by Western Europe with 83.3 percent and Southern Europe with 76.7 percent. In 2022, more than 4.59 billion people reported using social media, and this number is projected to reach almost six billion by 2027. Facebook: the most popular social network Meta’s Facebook, the social media giant and the first platform to reach this kind of scale, was the leading social network as of October 2023 with more than three billion global monthly active users (MAU). Additionally, Meta owns four of the biggest social media platforms, all with more than one billion MAU each: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. As of January 2023, India was home to Facebook’s largest audience with more than 300 million MAU, followed by the United States with 175 million MAU.

The average monthly wage for a public worker in Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2020 was about **** thousand Saudi riyals. In comparison, the average monthly wage for a worker in the private establishment sector was *** thousand Saudi riyals in that year. Gender and income   The labor force participation gender gap in Saudi Arabia was ** percent, among the highest in the Middle East and North Africa. This gap is especially visible considering that female labor force participation rate amongst nationals in Saudi Arabia, which was only **** percent. The gender gap of the Saudi Arabian labor markets is also reflected in the difference in average monthly earnings of men and women. In all sectors apart from technical professions and the humanitarian fields as well as sales, men tend to earn more than women.  Nationality and income    The oil boom allowed Saudi Arabia to adapt the fiscal policy of a rentier state, which was heavily reliant on foreign skilled and unskilled workers. This allowed the Saudi Arabian government to offer on one hand foreign workers attractive salaries and work benefits and on the other hand its nationals decent social and welfare programs which leveled the low employment rate amongst Saudi citizens. The volatility of the energy market in the last two decades and inclining oil resources however forced the Saudi government to rethink its economic structure. The Saudi Arabian government introduced social and economic reforms as part of the Agenda 2030 to prepare and strengthen their country for a future with a diversified economy, not reliant on oil revenue and subsequently self-sufficient citizens not reliant on government handouts. Among the leading social reforms is the ‘Saudization’ of the workforce. Which forces specially the private sector to increase the employment of Saudi Nationals.