Saudi Arabia
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Capital: Riyadh
The Saudi Arabia Bulletin
Weekly Brief: September 21, 2015
Top Story The influx of refugees from Syria and other parts of the Middle East and Africa continued to make headlines last week. Migrants attempting to reach Western Europe have been stymied by Hungarian border security, where police used tear gas and water cannons to keep them from overwhelming crossings along Hungary’s border with Serbia, […]
Weekly Brief: May 4, 2015
Top Story Representatives from around the world traveled to New York this week to begin the ninth review conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Review conferences have been held every five years since the NPT entered into effect in 1970. American Secretary of State John Kerry, who will lead his country’s […]
Weekly Brief: April 27, 2015
Top Story American President Barack Obama acknowledged on Wednesday that an American drone strike on an al Qaeda compound along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in January killed two hostages, an American and an Italian. Mr. Obama claimed that the mistake was due to faulty intelligence, and that American officials had no reason to believe the hostages […]
Weekly Brief: April 13, 2015
Africa One of the gunmen responsible for the attack on Kenya’s Garissa University College last week, which killed 148 people, was the son of a Kenyan district official. He had been missing for over a year, since dropping out of law school. His father has been cooperating with authorities since reporting his son missing last […]
Weekly Brief: April 6, 2015
Top Story Parties negotiating limits on Iran’s nuclear program announced a framework agreement on Thursday, which they intend to finalize by the end of June. The talks had intensified ahead of a March 31 soft deadline for a deal. By Monday, three primary sticking points remained: the process of lifting restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program after 10 years, […]
Weekly Brief: March 30, 2015
Middle East Fighting in Yemen continued to escalate this week. On Wednesday, the Houthi rebels seized an airbase as they moved closer to the city of Aden, where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sheltered. By Thursday, Mr. Hadi had briefly sought shelter in Oman before moving on to Riyadh. On Thursday, Saudi Arabia led airstrikes against the Houthis in […]
Weekly Brief: October 18, 2013
A short Weekly Brief focused mostly on the Middle East covers developments in Iran’s nuclear programs; an update on Syria, including fallout at the United Nations; concerning developments regarding violence and political division in Iraq; and efforts to combat organized crime in Mexico.
History
Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and home to Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina. The king's official title is the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The modern Saudi state was founded in 1932 by ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al SAUD (Ibn Saud) after a 30-year campaign to unify most of the Arabian Peninsula. One of his male descendants rules the country today, as required by the country's 1992 Basic Law. King ABDALLAH bin Abd al-Aziz ascended to the throne in 2005. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia accepted the Kuwaiti royal family and 400,000 refugees while allowing Western and Arab troops to deploy on its soil for the liberation of Kuwait the following year. The continuing presence of foreign troops on Saudi soil after the liberation of Kuwait became a source of tension between the royal family and the public until all operational US troops left the country in 2003. Major terrorist attacks in May and November 2003 spurred a strong on-going campaign against domestic terrorism and extremism. King ABDALLAH has continued the cautious reform program begun when he was crown prince. The king instituted an interfaith dialogue initiative in 2008 to encourage religious tolerance on a global level; in 2009, he reshuffled the cabinet, which led to more moderates holding ministerial and judicial positions, and appointed the first female to the cabinet. The 2010-12 uprisings across Middle Eastern and North African countries sparked modest incidents in Saudi cities, predominantly by Shia demonstrators calling for the release of detainees and the withdrawal from Bahrain of the Gulf Cooperation Council's Peninsula Shield Force. Protests in general were met by a strong police presence, with some arrests, but not the level of bloodshed seen in protests elsewhere in the region. In response to the unrest, King ABDALLAH in February and March 2011 announced a series of benefits to Saudi citizens including funds to build affordable housing, salary increases for government workers, and unemployment entitlements. To promote increased political participation, the government held elections nationwide in September 2011 for half the members of 285 municipal councils. Also in September, the king announced that women will be allowed to run for and vote in future municipal elections - first held in 2005 - and serve as full members of the advisory Consultative Council. During 2012, Shia protests increased in violence, while peaceful Sunni protests expanded. The country remains a leading producer of oil and natural gas and holds about 17% of the world's proven oil reserves. The government continues to pursue economic reform and diversification, particularly since Saudi Arabia's accession to the WTO in December 2005, and promotes foreign investment in the kingdom. A burgeoning population, aquifer depletion, and an economy largely dependent on petroleum output and prices are ongoing governmental concerns.
Geography
Metric Units
| Total Area | 2,149,690 sq km |
| Land Boundaries | 4,431 km |
| Border Countries | Iraq 814 km, Jordan 744 km, Kuwait 222 km, Oman 676 km, Qatar 60 km, UAE 457 km, Yemen 1,458 km |
| Coastline | 2,640 km |
| Terrain | mostly uninhabited, sandy desert |
| Minimum Elevation | 0 m |
| Maximum Elevation | 3,133 m |
| Climate | harsh, dry desert with great temperature extremes |
| Natural Resources | petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper |
| Arable Land | 1.45% |
| Permanent Crops | 0.11% |
Economy
| Gross Domestic Product | $740.5 billion |
| GDP (per capita) | $25,700 |
| GDP Growth | 6% |
| Unemployment Rate | 10.7% |
| Population in Poverty | No data% |
| GINI Index | No data |
Budget & Debt
| Expenditures | $236.3 billion |
| Revenue | $314.3 billion |
| Current Account Balance | $150 billion |
| External Debt | $127.4 billion |
Trade
| Exports | $381.5 billion |
| Export Items | petroleum and petroleum products 90% |
| Export Partners | Japan 13.9%, China 13.6%, US 13.4%, South Korea 10.2%, India 7.8%, Singapore 4.8% (2011) |
| Imports | $136.8 billion |
| Import Items | machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, motor vehicles, textiles |
| Import Partners | China 12.8%, US 11.9%, Germany 7.1%, South Korea 6%, Japan 5.6%, India 4.9%, Italy 4.1% (2011) |
People
| Population | 26,939,583 |
| Population Growth | 1.51% |
| Ethnic Groups | Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10% |
| Religion | Muslim (official) 100% |
| Life Expectancy | 74.58 years |
| Infant Mortality | 1.21 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Maternal Mortality | 2.2 deaths/100,000 live births |
Energy
| Electricity Production | 212.3 billion kWh |
| Electricity Consumption | 186.1 billion kWh |
| From Fossil Fuels | 100% |
| From Nuclear | 0% |
| From Hydroelectric | 0% |
| From Renewable Sources | 0% |
