Official Name: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Capital city: Riyadh
Location: Saudi Arabia is located in the Middle East bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen.
Size: Saudi Arabia has a total land area approximately 2,149,690 sq km; in comparison this is slightly smaller than Greenland and slightly bigger than Mexico.
Climate: Saudi Arabia has a harsh dry desert climate with temperatures regularly going into the extremes
Population: Saudi Arabia has an approximate population of 28.6 million.
Life Expectancy: The average Saudi at birth can expect to live up to 76.3 years of age.
Major Illness: There are no major illnesses prevalent throughout Saudi however there is cases of HIV AIDS every year that are reported. Ethnicities: Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%
Languages: Arabic is the only language spoken and the official language in Saudi Arabia.
Religion: 100% of the population is Muslim.
Government: Saudi Arabia is an Islamic Absolute Monarchy, which all legislative and ruling powers reside with the king.
Head of State: Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz is the current king of Saudi Arabia.
Economy: The Saudi economy is an oil-based economy with strong government controls on all major economic transactions and activities. It posses more than 20% of the worlds proven petroleum reserves it is the worlds largest petroleum exporter. Petroleum exports account for over 80% of the countries budget income, 45% of GDP and 90% of export earnings. Roughly only 40% of GDP comes from the private sector, the rest being made of government owned oil refineries and ministry departments. Roughly 6.4 million foreign workers play a vital role in the economy, especially in the oil production and processing sector of the economy. High oil prices during the 2008 period saw high levels of growth, budget revenues and increase in Saudi’s ownership of foreign assets. King Abdullah has announced plans to establish six "economic cities" in different regions of the country to promote development and diversification. The last five years of high oil prices have given Saudi Arabia ample financial reserves to manage the impact of the global financial crisis, however tight international credit, falling oil prices, and the global economic slowdown will reduce Saudi economic growth in 2009.
GDP: Saudi Arabia has a GDP purchasing parity of 582.8 billion
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