Demographics, key figures
Saudi Arabia is the4th largest country in the Arab world, with an estimated population of 36.4 million. With a complete change in lifestyle that began in the 1950s, the country has opened its doors wide to immigration to ensure its economic development. There are an estimated 13 million immigrants living in Saudi Arabia, representing 41% of the population. Whereas in the 1960s, the vast majority of Saudis were nomadic or semi-nomadic, today 95% of the population is sedentary and 80% lives in cities. The Saudi population is young, with over 70% aged between 15 and 64 and a median age of 32.4. Life expectancy is 78.5 years, with little difference between men and women. Men can expect to live to 77, while women can expect to live to 80. The mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world, at 3.3 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants per year. The birth rate is relatively high, at 15.5 births per 1,000 inhabitants per year, or over 1,500 births per day. Although the birth rate continues to decline, Saudi Arabia's population is growing at an annual rate of 1.2%. As a result, the country is experiencing a demographic explosion that is likely to weigh heavily on the country's economy. The working population is close to 17 million. Unemployment stood at 5.1% in the first quarter of 2023, the lowest rate recorded since 2010. Women account for 34.5% of the workforce, a figure that continues to rise. They were just 14.8% in 2017, before Mohammed Ben Salman allowed women to set up their own business without their guardian's consent. Saudi Arabia has a deficit of women, who account for just 42.26% of the population.
An Arab people
Saudi Arabia is not known for its ethnic diversity, since 90% of its population is Arab. The remaining 10% make up a heterogeneous minority of very diverse origins: sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt, countries of the Levant, southern Arabian Peninsula, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uzbekistan and Turkey, Maghreb, Pakistan and India. These Saudis mainly populate the ancient region of Hedjaz, in the vicinity of Mecca, Medina and Jeddah. It can be assumed that their ancestors were former pilgrims who stayed on in Mecca, or merchants on the ancient routes between Africa and the Orient who never left. For some families, their lineage goes back over 1,500 years, before the advent of Islam. A small proportion of the Saudi population is Bedouin. While Bedouins are Arabs, not all Arabs are Bedouins. The Bedouin were nomadic herders with very specific cultural traditions. The word Bedouin literally means "man of the desert". Sedentarized Bedouins often hold positions in the Saudi judiciary or the National Guard.
High immigration
More than a third of the population is of foreign origin. The discovery of oil in the late 1930s profoundly changed the country's dynamics. The need for manpower was enormous, as tribes scattered across the peninsula began to settle down and towns grew out of the sand. The workforce was to come from all countries with large Muslim populations. The close political and diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Egypt provided a population of workers who began arriving on the peninsula in the 1950s. It is in this country that the Egyptian diaspora is the largest, numbering over a million people. By 2023, the largest immigrant population will be arriving from the Indian subcontinent. There will be 1.88 million Indians, 1.81 million Pakistanis and 1.5 million Bangladeshis. The war in Syria has also brought a large diaspora, with 2.6 million workers. Southeast Asia is also a good source of labor, with 1.7 million Filipinos and 850,000 Indonesians. Historically, many Yemenis have crossed the porous border between the two countries. In 2023, the country counted over 1.8 million Yemeni immigrants. But the civil war in Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia is taking part in support of the presidential regime, has led to numerous cases of bullying and deportation of illegal immigrants. Human rights associations report arbitrary detentions, unjustified termination of employment contracts and arbitrary hiring constraints. In his "Vision 2030" development program implemented since 2017, Mohammed Ben Salman is tackling illegal labor and tightening hiring conditions in his country. From now on, immigrant workers must pay a tax of almost €1,200 for any accompanying family members. In addition, workers are taxed and must pay a monthly tax of €200 to the government and a balance to their sponsor. This financial pressure in a country where the standard of living is high, added to the Covid-19 crisis which has considerably hampered access to work, has led many Yemenis to return home. At present, only one million Yemenis remain in the peninsula. While these measures affect all immigrant workers, they are being applied with greater authority to the refugee population from Yemen.
Citizenship
Measures to give foreigners access to the labor market have helped to reduce the relatively high unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia, and have contributed to a nationalist vision of the country that is intended to restore pride of belonging among Saudis. The conditions for acquiring Saudi nationality have always been complicated. All those residing in the country before 1914 were granted citizenship automatically. Naturalization can only be obtained after 10 years' uninterrupted residence in the country, a good command of written and spoken Arabic, a character test and the absence of a criminal record. It is granted arbitrarily by the Prime Minister, on the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior.
