Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian flag

Green (traditional Islamic color) with the Muslim creed, in white Arabic script that reads ‘There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God’; under the text is a white horizontal saber; has different sides so that the text reads correctly from right to left and the saber points in the proper direction on both sides (one of only three flags that have this); only national flag to have an inscription as its principal design

Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of what?

Islam

What is Saudi Arabia home to?

Islam’s two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina

When was the modern Saudi state founded?

1932, after a 30-year campaign to unify most of the Arabian Peninsula

Saudi Arabia remains a leading producer of what?

Oil and natural gas

Climate

Harsha, dry desert with great temperature extremes

Natural resources

Petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper

Population

36 million

Ethnic groups

Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%

Language

Arabic

Religions

Muslim (85-90% Sunni, 10-12% Shia), other

Government type

Absolute monarchy

Capital

Riyadh

Economy

High-income, oil-based; OPEC founding member; Vision 2023 prioritizing economic diversification, increased private sector involvement, and projects funded by sovereign wealth fund and foreign investment; young labor force; falling but significant poverty rate despite lack of official statistics

Saudi Arabia’s importance as an oil exporter has made economic interdependence with whom?

The West, where the main consumer demand is found- a necessity

Saudi Arabia has had a growing regional rivalry with who?

Iran

Saudi Arabia’s espousal of a puritan version of Sunni Islam means they’ve adopted what kinds of things?

Harsh punishments such as public beheadings and heavy restrictions on the rights of women

Saudi Arabia has no…

Democratic institutions

Saudi Arabia has systematic repression of whom?

Human rights activists, women’s rights activists, journalists and political dissidents

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of what?

Smartphone usage in the region

The government openly acknowledges that widespread internet filtering takes place. What kind of websites do they target?

Pornographic, Islam-related, human rights, and political sites

Saudi Arabia has the highest what of any country in the world?

Per-capita YouTube use

Saudi Arabia is home to how much of all active Twitter users in the Arab region?

40%

In 1938 oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia and production begins under…

US-controlled Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco)

In 1972, Saudi Arabia gained control of 20% of Aramco, which did what?

Lessened US control over Saudi oil

When did Saudi Arabia lead an oil boycott against Western countries and why?

1973; targeted countries that supported Israel in the October Yom Kippur War with Egypt and Syria

The oil boycott caused oil prices to…

Quadruple

In what year did extremists seize the Grand Mosque of Mecca?

1979

When did Saudi Arabia take full control of Aramco from the US?

1980

How many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals?

15 out of 19

The World Trade Organization gives the green light to Saudi Arabia’s membership in what year?

2005 after 12 years of talks

What was the biggest single arms deal in US history?

US officials sold $60 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia in 2010

When was the ban on women driving formally lifted?

2017

When was public cinema unbanned after being deemed un-Islamic?

2018, 40 years after it was initially banned

When were Saudi women athletes allowed to compete in the Olympics for the first time?

2012