dk booksdk books

Publishers of award winning reference
Home
Africa
Asia
Australasia & Oceania
Europe
North America
South America
Saudi Arabia

OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

DATE OF FORMATION: 1932

POPULATION: 24.9 million

DENSITY: 30 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: Arabic

RELIGIONS: Sunni Muslim 85%, Shi'a Muslim 15%

ETHNIC MIX: Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%

GOVERNMENT: No legislative elections

CURRENCY: Saudi riyal

 

Click to see a larger map

Occupying most of the Arabian peninsula, Saudi Arabia covers an area as large as western Europe. Over 95% of its land is desert, with the most arid part, known as the Empty Quarter or Rub al Khali, being in the southeast. Saudi Arabia has the world's largest oil reserves. It includes Islam's holiest cities, Medina and Mecca, visited each year by two million Muslims performing the pilgrimage known as the haj. The al-Sa'ud family have been Saudi Arabia's absolutist rulers since 1932. In theory, Islamic sharia underpins the constitution.

 

  © 2003 ™ Dorling Kindersley Limited, 80 Strand, London, WC2R ORL
PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS