The Kingdom’s population crossed 27.1 million as of December 2010, and these included 18.7 million Saudis and 8.4 million foreigners, a report released by the Central Department of Statistics and Information revealed.
According to the figures published by the department recently, the Kingdom has an estimated population of 27,136,977 at the end of 2010. Of this the number of Saudis stood at 18,707,576.
Makkah topped the regions with a population of 6.9 million, including 4.1 million Saudis and 2.8 million foreigners. Riyadh follows Makkah with a population of 6.7 million, including 4.2 million Saudis. Riyadh also ranks second among the regions in the number of foreigners with 2.4 million, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported citing the statistics.
Eastern Province is third with a total population of 4.1 million, including 1.2 million foreigners.
Riyadh is the most populous city in the Kingdom. The capital has a population of more than 5.2 million, and Jeddah and Makkah are second and third with populations of 3.4 million and 1.6 million respectively. Madinah holds fourth position (1.1 million), then Taif and Dammam with 987,000 and 903,000 people respectively.
According to the department, the overall growth of population during the census period (2004-2010) was 3.2 percent, while the population of Saudis grew by 2.21 percent. The density of population was 14 per square kilometer during the same period.
The latest census figures showed the number of government employees in the Kingdom crossed 884,000 by the end of 2010. These employees included 75,118 foreigners. About half of government employees (442,000) work in the education sector. There are 279,700 employees in the public sector and 78,179 in the health sector. The number of faculty members in universities exceeded 24,707. The Kingdom’s unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in 2009.
According to the census, Riyadh recorded the highest number of accidents and casualties among the cities in the Kingdom during the census period. Nearly 29 percent of people who died or were injured in accidents in the Kingdom were from Riyadh province while Makkah and the Eastern Province followed with 23 percent each, and Asir stood at fourth position with 5 percent.
Riyadh also has the highest number of divorces in the Kingdom, while Hail recorded the lowest. Makkah province accounted for the most number of marriages taking place in the Kingdom.
The department’s report also showed some statistical figures for 2011. There was a big leap in the Kingdom’s exports in 2011 (35.73 percent) , while import growth was merely 1.45 percent during the year. Contribution of exports to GDP at current prices was 61.6 percent, while per capita GDP was SR76,229 and the general cost of living index in 2011 stood at 135.