Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has an oil-based economy with strong government controls over major economic activities. Saudi Arabia claimed to be in possession of 260.1 billion barrels of oil reserves as of 2003, about 24% of the world's proven total petroleum reserves. It ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum and plays a leading role in OPEC.

The government is expected to continue calling for private sector growth to lessen the kingdom's dependence on oil and increase employment opportunities for the swelling Saudi population.

To diversify the economy, Saudi Arabia launched a new city on the western coast with investments exceeding 26.6 billion dollars. The city which is named "King Abdullah Economic City" will be built near north of Jeddah. The new city, where construction work started in Dec 2005, includes a port which is ten times larger than the largest port of Rotterdam (the largest in the world) and it can anchor giant ships as well as an industrial area for the sectors of petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and research. The city, which will expand along a coast of 35 km, also includes an educational city, a tourism zone and a financial stock market center.

Saudi Arabia officially became a WTO member in December 2005.

Total GDP: $576.5 billion (2008 est.)

GDP Growth Rate: 4.2% (2008 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $20,500 (2008 est.)

Population: 28,686,633 (July 2009 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 1.848% (2009 est.)

Fertility Rate: 3.83 children born/woman (2009 est.)

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 38% (male 5,557,453/female 5,340,614)

15-64 years: 59.5% (male 9,608,032/female 7,473,543)

65 years and over: 2.5% (male 363,241/female 343,750)

(2009 est.)