Country profilesSaudi Arabia

Humanitarian profile

Saudi Arabia, the word’s top oil producer, is one of the wealthiest and most influential powers in the Middle East. The royal family has retained its monopoly on the vast desert kingdom’s wealth without tolerating any form of opposition. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest non-Western aid donors.

Country snapshot

Saudi Arabia is one of the most insular Arab states, but has significant international influence as the world's largest oil exporter and in its role as guardian of Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina.

It is one of the five founder members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and member of G20, Organisation of the Islamic Conference, United Nations, IMF, World Bank, Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council, and World Trade Organization.

The country has historically been allied with and armed by the United States and other Western countries. It is strongly opposed to Israel. It has often mediated in inter-Arab conflicts.

With 2.25 million sq km (868,800 sq miles) of territory on the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi shares its borders with seven countries.

Most Saudi citizens belong to the austere Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam. A sizeable Shi'ite Muslim minority lives mainly in the oil-producing Eastern Province.

Saudi's most infamous citizen, Osama bin Laden, founded al Qaeda. The government revoked his passport in 1994.

Government

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, and its constitution is the Koran and the Sunnah (the traditions of Prophet Mohammad).

The king is head of state and prime minister, and senior posts are filled with members of the royal family. The king appoints and chairs a Council of Ministers - or cabinet - which oversees state affairs and passes legislation. The king also appoints a 150-member Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Council) every four years. The council has primarily an advisory role but, since 2003, has been able to propose legislation without the king's permission.

The government tightly controls every aspect of life in Saudi from public morals and religious practice to media coverage.

Political parties are banned and critics of the government are punished.

There has been a growth of extremist groups which have carried out deadly attacks in the kingdom. Some of these attacks have been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group.

In 2005 the kingdom held its first ever national elections. These elected half of the members of municipal councils (the other half being appointed). Only men over 21 years old, not serving in the military and resident in their electoral district for at least 12 months, were eligible to vote. Later that year women were allowed to participate in electing the board of Jeddah's chamber of commerce and industry.

Economy

Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil producer. It owns a quarter of world oil reserves and has the capacity to produce 11 million barrels per day. It also has natural gas reserves. Oil and oil derivatives account for over 90 percent of its export earnings, 75 percent of budget revenue and over a third of its gross domestic product (GDP). The nationalised Saudi Aramco controls all onshore oil.

Oil wealth attracts a large influx of labour from Asia and other Arab states, mostly to work in lower-paid jobs. Expats are also employed in some higher-paid jobs.

The government collects very little income from taxes.

Endemic corruption, financial mismanagement and the government's dominance of the economy have led to some problems. Much of the kingdom's business activity is connected with members of the ruling family or other elite families.

Saudi Arabia is a major arms importer.

The national currency is the riyal.

History

The Ottoman empire controlled much of the Arabian peninsula from the 16th century until World War One, although the central Najd region rarely came under outside authority. Local tribes had varying degrees of autonomy.

The first kingdom of the House of Saud was formed in the mid-18th century when a local ruler Muhammad ibn Saud joined forces with a cleric Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab to create a new political entity, which remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today.

The Saudis lost control of some territory to rival families in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1919 and 1925 Abdul-Aziz al-Saud recaptured land.

He became King of Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd, uniting the two states and their dependencies and shaping the modern state. Its name was changed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

The al Saud family has maintained its rule ever since, although power has not always been transferred peacefully.

Oil exploration began in 1933, commercially exploitable amounts were found five years later and production began under the U.S.-controlled Arabian American Oil Company.

Within a few decades, the majority of Saudis moved from the desert, living as part of a tribal structure, to the cities.

King Faisal led the Arab oil embargo against the West in the 1973 Arab-Israeli Middle East War.

In February 2002 the kingdom took a more active role in the Middle East conflict by floating a land-for-peace proposal which was adopted by an Arab summit in March.

Relations with the United States plunged into crisis after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, carried out by mainly Saudi hijackers. Two years later al Qaeda killed 35 people in the kingdom itself, the first in a series of attacks on Western and government targets.

Shortly after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Saudi Arabia publically opposed, Washington withdrew most of its troops from the kingdom, ending a military presence in the cradle of Islam which had angered conservative Muslims.

Legal snapshot

The kingdom has no legislature and Islamic sharia law prevails. Laws are passed by the Council of Ministers, but have to be ratified by royal decree.

Daughters receive half the inheritance awarded to their brothers, and the testimony of one man is equal to that of two women in sharia courts.

In 2001, the Council of Ministers approved a penal code that bans torture. However, there are still frequent allegations of torture by police and prison officials, and independent human rights organisations have limited access to prisoners.