Residents find Riyadh safe

Around 48 percent of Riyadh’s citizens own houses, according to a report released by the urban tracking unit at the Supreme Commission of Riyadh Development.
While most of the city’s families have drinking water facilities, only half of Riyadh’s families say they have adequate sewage networks in their neighborhoods.
Around 70 percent of people surveyed said life in Riyadh has improved over the past five years, while two-thirds of those surveyed expressed satisfaction with the education system.
An impressive 85 percent of survey participants said they felt safe on the city’s streets and public places.
Affordable housing got the lion’s share of government spending, at just under 60 percent, while job opportunities captured 30 percent and health care services 23 percent, the report said.
Around 44 percent of housing units in Riyadh are apartments, while 39 percent are villas, said the report.
Half the properties are individually funded while 41 percent were built through loans from the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF).
Only six percent of houses were built through bank loans.
Riyadh's population reached an estimated 5.7 million last year and is poised to reach 8.3 million within five years, with an annual growth rate of 4 percent.
Population density, currently estimated at almost 2,400 people per square kilometer, is expected to reach 2,700 in five years, the report said.
There are two doctors per 1,000 residents and 22 hospital beds per 10,000 patients.
Illiteracy rates remain low in the city, at just over 3.5 percent, the report said.
Only half of Riyadh’s population are Internet users, however, compared with mobile phone use, which has reached 185 percent.