World Factbook

Saudi Arabia

Al Mamlakah al Arabiyah as Suudiyah

Last updated: 2026-03-28 (today)

Literacy

male

98.6% (2024 est.)

female

96.7% (2024 est.)

total population

97.9% (2024 est.)

Languages

Arabic (official)

major-language sample(s)

كتاب حقائق العالم، المصدر الذي لا يمكن الاستغناء عنه للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic) The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Religions

Muslim (official; citizens are 85-90% Sunni and 10-12% Shia), other (includes Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh) (2020 est.)

note: despite having a large expatriate community of various faiths (more than 30% of the population), most forms of public religious expression inconsistent with the government-sanctioned interpretation of Sunni Islam are restricted; non-Muslims are not allowed to have Saudi citizenship and non-Muslim places of worship are not permitted (2013)

Sex ratio

at birth

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years

1.42 male(s)/female

total population

1.31 male(s)/female (2024 est.)

65 years and over

1.14 male(s)/female

Birth rate

13.41 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)

Death rate

3.51 deaths/1,000 population (2025 est.)

Median age

male

34.6 years

total

32.8 years (2025 est.)

female

29.3 years

Population

male

20,700,838

total

36,544,431 (2024 est.)

female

15,843,593

Nationality

noun

Saudi(s)

adjective

Saudi or Saudi Arabian

Tobacco use

male

28.3% (2025 est.)

total

17.6% (2025 est.)

female

2% (2025 est.)

Urbanization

urban population

85% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization

1.69% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years

22.9% (male 4,266,720/female 4,097,270)

15-64 years

72.7% (male 15,577,133/female 10,994,061)

65 years and over

4.4% (2024 est.) (male 856,985/female 752,262)

Ethnic groups

Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio

37.5 (2024 est.)

youth dependency ratio

31.5 (2024 est.)

potential support ratio

16.5 (2024 est.)

elderly dependency ratio

6.1 (2024 est.)

Physician density

3.41 physicians/1,000 population (2023)

Health expenditure

Health expenditure (as % of GDP)

6% of GDP (2021)

Health expenditure (as % of national budget)

12.8% of national budget (2022 est.)

Net migration rate

7.35 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2025 est.)

Hospital bed density

2.2 beds/1,000 population (2021 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.84 children born/woman (2025 est.)

Drinking water source

improved: rural

rural: 100% of population (2022 est.)

improved: total

total: 98.6% of population (2022 est.)

improved: urban

urban: 98.4% of population (2022 est.)

unimproved: rural

rural: 0% of population (2022 est.)

unimproved: total

total: 1.4% of population (2022 est.)

unimproved: urban

urban: 1.6% of population (2022 est.)

Education expenditure

Education expenditure (% GDP)

5.1% of GDP (2023 est.)

Education expenditure (% national budget)

14.8% national budget (2024 est.)

Infant mortality rate

male

12.8 deaths/1,000 live births

total

11.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2025 est.)

female

10.5 deaths/1,000 live births

Population growth rate

1.72% (2025 est.)

Gross reproduction rate

0.9 (2025 est.)

Population distribution

historically a population that was mostly nomadic or semi-nomadic, the Saudi population has become more settled since oil was discovered in the 1930s; most of the country's population is now concentrated in a wide area across the middle of the peninsula, from Ad Dammam in the east through Riyadh in the interior to Mecca-Medina in the west near the Red Sea

Life expectancy at birth

male

75.6 years

female

78.8 years

total population

77.2 years (2024 est.)

Maternal mortality ratio

7 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

Sanitation facility access

improved: rural

rural: 99.7% of population (2022 est.)

improved: total

total: 99.7% of population (2022 est.)

improved: urban

urban: 99.7% of population (2022 est.)

unimproved: rural

rural: 0.3% of population (2022 est.)

unimproved: total

total: 0.3% of population (2022 est.)