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Arab Culture & Civilization
Explore this exemplary library of articles and resources on Arab societies and culture. This site was originally created by the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE).
Saudi Arabia is one of the United States' closest and most complex allies in the Middle East. One of the world's leading producers of petroleum, it is also the birthplace of Islam and the site of its two most important shrines, Mecca and Medina. This mixture of modern oil wealth and deep religious fervor had often led to tension in the country between pro-Western elites (and the royal family) and religious ultraconservatives. Saudi Arabia as we know it was founded in 1932 by Abd Al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman Al Saud (Ibn Saud) after a 30-year struggle to unify the Arabian Peninsula.
Today the Kingdom is ruled by one of his sons, King Adbullah, Since he became king, Abdullah has embarked on a series of economic, political and religious reforms. Although the royal family retains final political authority, the election of half of the members of 179 municipal councils in 2005 marked the beginning of a new political process.
This country of 28 million, which is about one-fifth the size of the United States, has one of the lowest median ages in the region - just over 21 years of age. Almost 40 percent of the population is under the age of 15. The need to give this group the skills to work in the private sector and increase their employment opportunities is one of Saudi Arabia's most important challenges. While Saudi Arabia is the world's leading exporter of oil, it is striving to increase the country's private sector involvement in areas like power generation, telecommunications, natural gas exploration, and petrochemicals.
Ethnic Groups and Languages: All Saudis are Arab Muslims, as are over half the foreigners. In 1990 foreign work force included large numbers of Egyptians, Yemenis, Jordanians, Bahrainis, Pakistanis, Indians, and Filipinos, in that order. Arabic language of all Saudis.
Religion: Strict Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam, the official faith of about 95 percent of Saudis. Remainder are Shia, most of whom reside in vicinity of Al Ahsa and Al Qatif in Eastern Province. Public worship by non-Muslims prohibited.
Education and Literacy: Education system experienced massive growth in 1970s and 1980s. Attendance not compulsory. Females accounted for close to 44 percent of public school student total of 2.6 million in 1989. About 130,000 students in 1989 enrolled in nonvocational institutions of higher learning, 9,000 in vocational institutions; about 4,000 enrolled abroad. Literacy estimated at 62 percent of those over age fifteen in 1990, 73 percent for males and 48 percent for females.
Health: Infant mortality declining, twenty-one per 1,000 births in Ministry of Health hospitals in 1990. Immunization of infants and young children compulsory. Health care facilities underwent huge expansion in 1970s and 1980s. Official policy to provide comprehensive medical care free or at nominal fee. Introduction of epidemic control system in 1986 eliminated cholera, plague, and yellow fever. Incidence of malaria and bilharzia reduced to 1.6 and 1.9 percent respectively of total 1988 population. Despite trachoma campaigns, disease remained a major cause of blindness. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+sa0006%29
Population
The population of Saudi Arabia was estimated at 28,686,633 in July of 2009, a figure growing at about 3.3 percent a year. Saudi nationals account for close to 75 percent of the population. The remaining residents, nearly 6 million people, are expatriates comprised primarily of foreign workers. About 90 percent of Saudi nationals are Arabs. The rest of the indigenous population, according to CIA statistics, are Afro-Asian.
In 2000, the birth rate stood at 37.47 per 1,000 population, compared with a death rate of 6.02 per 1,000. According to a Saudi census taken in the early 1990s, a little over 50 percent of the population is male. While men make up a majority of the population, due primarily to the high concentration of males among expatriate workers, women are expected to live longer. Women on average live 69 years in Saudi Arabia, while the men live 66.
An overwhelming majority of the Saudi population is young. In 1999, according to the Saudi Ministry of Planning, 46 percent of the population was under 15. Another 38 percent was under 40. Those over 40 accounted for only 16 percent of the population. Efforts to accommodate the rising numbers of young adults entering the workforce each year have been only partly successful, and the consequent rise in unemployment has begun to aggravate the underlying tensions between the country's richest and poorest citizens.
Up until the 1960s a majority of the Saudi population were either nomadic or semi-nomadic desert dwellers with no fixed homes. However, after petroleum was discovered in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s, state revenues quickly began to rise. As the oil industry matured, the economy quickly modernized and nomadic herding faded as an economic base. By 2000, 95 percent of the Saudi population was settled.
The Saudi royal family and a majority of the population are Sunni Muslim. About 5 percent of the population, around 1 million people, are Shia Muslim. Tensions between the Sunni majority and the Shia minority have been especially high since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when Saudi Shiites rioted in parts of the Eastern Province. Shia Muslims routinely suffer from religious discrimination. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Asia-and-the-Pacific/Saudi-Arabia.html
The Saudi Arabian Embassy’s website provides country information including history, government, sports and recreation, transportation, communications, culture, art, energy policy, and agriculture.
This website provides information on the Saudi culture. Topics include history, urbanism, food, economy, social structure, gender roles, government, marriage, arts, medicine, and religion.
This Saudi ARAMCO website lists the dates and locations of several exhibits throughout the United States and abroad according to month. Popular locations include New York City, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
Arabic
