Language

Official language
Arabic

T-index
0.69%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Actual languages
Tagalog, Rohingya, Urdu, Egyptian Arabic

English
Very low proficiency (EF) – 104 of 112 countries/regions in the world- 10/12 position in the Middle East.

Demography

Capital: Riyadh
Currency: Saudi riyal
Population: 35.34 m
Population density: 16 /km2

Economy

GDP: 833.54 billion USD (2021)
GDP per capita: 23,585.9 USD ‎(2021) ‎
Exports: $167 billion (2020)

Statistics

Internet users: 97.9% penetration, 34.84 million
Unemployment rate: 7.7% (2020)
Urbanisation: 83.84% (2019)
Literacy: 98% (2020)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numericals are not used

Date format:  dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 00966

Internet Data

Internet users
97.9% penetration, 34.84 million

Share of web traffic by device
71.87% mobile phones, 26.75% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.21 tablet devices and 0.18% other devices

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
91.06 Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
80.39 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 115.3%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G):  94.8%

Most popular web search engines
Google (96.57%), Bing (1.8%), Petal Search (1%), Yandex (0.26%), Yahoo (0.22%), DuckDuckgo (0.13%)  

Most used social media
Facebook (71.94%),  Twitter (13.79%), YouTube (9.41%), Instagram (3.6%), Pinterest (0.97%), Tumblr (0.13%)

Social statistics

Life expectancy
74.87 yrs (2020)

Average age of the population
31.8 yrs (2020)

Gender
There is a clear distinction between male and female roles in society. Although women have been increasingly assuming more leading roles both in career and business, certain jobs remain open only to men. This includes political, ministerial, diplomatic and high-level managerial positions, field work which requires mingling with men and some of the services jobs such as restaurant staff and flight attendants. Throughout the last decades, women have been given equal work opportunities particularly in the educational and medical field. Almost all educational institutions are segregated from elementary to university level. It is interesting to note that men and women working in the same profession are paid equally. According to Islamic “Sharee’ah” law, women have the full right to manage their financial possessions. Men are obliged to fully support their families regardless of the wife’s financial status. This explains why most companies limit their home ownership programme only to male employees.

Ethnicity
Saudi society is ethnically diverse. Those who come from the western province of the state generally descend from other ethnic origins such as Turkey, Indonesia, India, Yemen and the like. People of the southern part belong to the major Arabian Peninsula tribes. The central province contains the majority of Bedouins. The eastern province is known for its people from mainly “Shaits sector”. Discrimination based on family names and ethnic religious sectors existed in the past affecting career opportunities. Under the pluralism applied recently in Saudi Arabia, this has lessened to a large extent.

Graduates (tertiary education)
23% of GDP (2018)

Religion
Islam is the main religion in Saudi Arabia and the Islamic “Sharee’ah” governs all aspects of life including the legislation of civil laws. During the past three decades, the country has undergone a great deal of infrastructure developments as well as lifestyle changes. The movement of modernisation, however, is kept in compliance with Islamic Sharee’ah, being defined as suitable for all times and places. Most Saudis incorporate religious rituals into their daily lifestyle. Almost all workplaces assign a room for employees to perform their prayers. The timing of  noon “Dhohr” and afternoon “Asr” prayers coincides within work hours. Most employees are allowed to take prayer breaks, which is about 10-15 minutes per prayer. It’s not uncommon to see some supervisors and/or staff perform their prayers in a mosque if it happens to be located near a work location.

Class
Most Saudis fall within the upper and lower middle class. People of higher class have more influential social roles. Distinction among different classes is felt in a subtle way.