Saudi Arabia is the seventh largest state in the Arab world, with a reported population of 35,300,280 as of 2024. 41.6% of inhabitants are immigrants. Saudi Arabia has experienced a population explosion in the last 40 years,Zuhur, Sherifa. Saudi Arabia (Middle East in Focus). ABC-CLIO Interactive, 2011. and continues to grow at a rate of 1.62% per year.

Until the 1960s, most of the population was nomadic or semi-nomadic; due to rapid economic and urban growth, more than 95% of the population is now settled. 80% of Saudis live in ten major urban centers: Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, Medina, Hofuf, Ta'if, Buraydah, Khobar, Yanbu, Dhahran, and Dammam. Some cities and oases have densities of more than 1,000 people per square kilometer. Saudi Arabia's population is characterized by rapid growth, far more men than women, and a large cohort of youths.

Saudi Arabia hosts one of the pillars of Islam, which obliges all Muslims to make the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once during their lifetime if they are able to do so. The cultural environment in Saudi Arabia is highly conservative; the country adheres to the interpretation of Islamic religious law (Sharia).

Most citizens of Saudi Arabia are ethnically Arabs, the majority of whom are tribal. However, more than 40% of Saudi Arabia's population are non-citizens. According to a random survey, most non-citizens living in Saudi Arabia come from the Indian Subcontinent and Arab countries. Many Arabs from nearby countries are employed in the country, particularly Egyptians, as the Egyptian community developed from the 1950s onwards. There also are significant numbers of Asian expatriates, mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Syria and Yemen. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was also a significant community of South Korean migrant labourers, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but due to the rapid economic growth and development in South Korea, most have since returned home; the South Korean government's statistics showed only 1,200 of their nationals living in Saudi Arabia (most of them being professionals and business personnels) . There are more than 100,000 Westerners in Saudi Arabia, most of whom live in private compounds in the major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Yanbu and Dhahran. The government prohibits non-Muslims from entering the city of Mecca.

Population

As of 2022, the country had a reported population of 32,175,224.

Age structure Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2020) (Provisional Estimates): Age Group Male Female Total % Total 20 231 425 14 781 989 35 013 414 0–4 1 477 523 1 421 656 2 899 179 5–9 1 536 843 1 479 509 3 016 352 10–14 1 343 659 1 297 303 2 640 962 15–19 1 228 939 1 177 551 2 406 490 20–24 1 429 072 1 248 976 2 678 048 25–29 1 850 713 1 492 533 3 343 246 30–34 2 002 357 1 393 121 3 395 478 35–39 2 394 363 1 414 266 3 808 629 40–44 2 181 209 1 227 215 3 408 424 45–49 1 676 347 850 177 2 526 524 50–54 1 208 823 549 702 1 758 525 55–59 807 534 404 701 1 212 235 60–64 500 209 296 964 797 173 65–69 241 585 201 494 443 079 70–74 153 697 140 182 293 879 75–79 94 134 82 602 176 736 80+ 104 418 104 037 208 455 Age group Male Female Total Percent 0–14 4 358 025 4 198 468 8 556 493 15–64 15 279 566 10 055 206 25 334 772 65+ 593 834 528 315 1 122 149

According to the CIA World Factbook the population of Saudi Arabia has a large young population ages 0–19 years and an increasing middle-age population ages 20–35 years. With a growing population reaching adulthood, global economists and the Saudi government have become concerned that there are more Saudis seeking jobs than are available. The nation has also seen a rise in its older population as life expectancy has risen throughout the last 40 years.

Density Population Density: 16 people per km2 of land (2023).

Urbanization The following data has been retrieved from the CIA World Factbook:

Urban population: 85% of total population (2023)

Rate of urbanization: 1.69% annual rate of change (2020–25 est.)

Historically, some of the population of Saudi Arabia followed a nomadic lifestyle, while most lived in villages and small towns run by emirs. Following the discovery of oil in the 1930s, the Kingdom became far more settled as people moved to centers of high economic activity. Significant population growth can be seen in the rise of urbanization throughout Saudi Arabia, which has grown 2 percent in the past ten years. The largest Saudi cities have become flooded with new residents as more people move to urban cities to find better employment opportunities, and overcrowding has become a major issue across the nation.

Vital statistics

Births and deaths

YearPopulationLive birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate (per 1000)Crude death rate (per 1000)Natural change (per 1000)Total Fertility Rate (TFR)Saudi TFRNon-Saudi TFR 2011 25,091,867 2.814 3.792 1.309 2012 26,168,861 2.797 3.735 1.370 2013 27,624,004 2.689 3.641 1.351 2014 28,309,273 2.695 3.625 1.380 2015 29,816,382 2.646 3.520 1.440 2016 30,954,198 2.665 3.470 1.577 2017 30,977,355 2.686 3.462 1.681 2018 30,196,281 2.683 3.383 1.659 2019 30,063,799 2.510 3.163 1.482 2020 31,552,510 2.289 2.985 1.167 2021 30,784,383 2.189 2.792 1.072 2022 32,175,224 484,719 15.1 2.135 2.798 0.905 2023 33,702,731 2.0 2.8 0.9 2024 35,300,280 2.0 2.7 0.8

Saudi Arabia is ranked 111th in comparison to the world with a birth rate of 18.51 births per 1,000 people in 2019. The nation's death rate is ranked 220th worldwide with 3.3 deaths per 1,000 people. Although birth rates have decreased in the last two decades, rates of decline fail to match the significant decline in death rates. Because of this, Saudi Arabia has experienced a population explosion in the last 40 years, and continues to grow at a rate of 1.63% per year. Saudi Arabia's population growth continues to be 0.295% higher than population growth rates in the Middle East and North Africa."Population Growth (Annual %)." Population Growth (Annual %) | Data, World Bank, data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.GROW?end=2017&locations=ZQ-SA-US&start=1995. Infant mortality rates have declined dramatically in the past twenty years from 25.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1995 to 6.3 deaths in 2017, according to the World Bank."Mortality Rate, Infant (per 1,000 Live Births)." World Bank: Infant Mortality, World Bank, data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN?end=2017&locations=SA-ZQ&start=1995. Saudi Arabia has a substantially lower infant mortality rate in comparison to the Middle East and North Africa region, which continues to face a high of 19.3 deaths for every 1,000 live births as of 2017. This significant reduction can be attributed to rising access to modern healthcare across the country, ranking 26th worldwide for healthcare system quality.Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, "1st Voluntary National Review." Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations High-Level Political Forum, 2017, pp 45–46. The construction of new hospitals and primary healthcare centers across the Kingdom, as well as healthcare during pregnancy and increased use of vaccinations account for a decline in infant mortality and increased life expectancy.Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, "1st Voluntary National Review." Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations High-Level Political Forum, 2017, pp 46–48

UN estimates

The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Population estimates account for under numeration in population censuses.