Saudi Arabia’s population reaches 31 million

Jeddah: Saudi Arabia’s population reached 31,015,999 in 2015, the Department of Statistics and Information said in its official account on Twitter, on the occasion of World Population Day on Monday.

The number of Saudis was 21.1 million and foreigners less than 10 million.

Farouq Al-Khateeb, an economics professor at King Abdul Al-Aziz University, said the population of Saudis grew slowly due to the low rate of marriage. Many Saudis are not keen on getting married because of the high cost of living. This could play a vital role in the future growth of the Saudi population.

Speaking to Arab News, Al-Khateeb said: “Geographically, the Kingdom is the largest country in the region, but there are many uninhabited areas which need to be exploited. The population is concentrated in three regions.

This factor has also contributed to the rise in the cost of living in the country due to high demand on services. The government must utilize uninhabited areas by attracting people to live there. This could create a balance between the population’s growth and services.”

The Kingdom’s population grew by 2.4 percent in 2015. The number of Saudis, who make up two-thirds of the population, increased to 21.1 million in 2015.

The Kingdom’s population over the last 12 years has been as follows: 22.6 million in 2004; 23.3 million in 2005; 24.1 million in 2006; 24.2 million in 2007; 24.8 million in 2008 and 25.4 million in 2009.

The population jumped to 27.6 million in 2010; 28.4 million in 2011; and 29.2 million in 2012. It increased to 30 million in 2013 and 30.77 million in 2014.

The country’s GDP per capita grew over the past 12 years by 6 percent on average, or an annual increase of SR3,200. The highest growth was recorded between 2010 and 2011 when it expanded by 24 percent from SR71,100 to SR87,900.

The worst year in recent times was when it fell by 19 percent in 2009, from SR78,600 recorded in 2008, because of the global economic crisis.

It dropped 15 percent to SR77,700 last year, from SR91,900 in 2014.

The per capita GDP is a measure of the total output of a country. Per capita GDP is arrived at by dividing gross domestic product by the number of people in a country.