Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, and most of its natives are adherents of the majority Sunni branch. In modern times, the Wahhābī interpretation of Sunni Islam has been especially influential, and Muslim scholars espousing that sect’s views have been a major social and political force. Wahhābism, as it is called in the West (members refer to themselves as salafīs, “followers of the pious forefathers of Islam,” or muwaḥḥidūn, “unitarians”), is a strict interpretation of the Ḥanbalī school of Islamic jurisprudence and is named for Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (1703–92), a religious scholar whose alliance with Muhammad ibn Saud led to the establishment of the first Saudi state.

The current government of Saudi Arabia (i.e., the Saud family) has largely relied on religion—including its close and continuing ties to Wahhābism and its status as the custodian of Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities of Islam—to establish its political legitimacy. The king is supposed to uphold Islam and apply its precepts and, in turn, is subject to its constraints. But at times he and the royal family have come under criticism for failing to do so.

Shiʿis, adherents of the second major branch of Islam, make up a small portion of the population and are found mostly in the oases of Al-Hasa and Al-Qaṭīf in the eastern part of the country. Most are Twelver, although there remain small numbers of Ismāʿīlīs. The only Christians are foreign workers and businessmen. The country’s once small Jewish population is now apparently extinct. Other religions are practiced among foreign workers. Public worship and display by non-Muslim faiths is prohibited. Public displays by non-Wahhābī Muslim groups, including by other Sunni sects, have been limited and even banned by the government. Sufism, for instance, is not openly practiced, nor is celebration of the Prophet’s birthday (mawlid). The Shiʿah have suffered the greatest persecution.

Settlement patterns

Four traditional regions stand out—the Hejaz, Asir, Najd, and Al-Hasa (transliterated more precisely as Al-Ḥijāz, ʿAsīr, Najd, and Al-Aḥsāʾ, respectively). The Hejaz, in the northwest, contains Mecca and Medina, as well as one of the kingdom’s primary ports, Jeddah. Asir is the highland region south of the Hejaz; its capital, Abhā, lies at an elevation of about 8,000 feet (2,400 meters). Subregions in Asir are formed by the oasis cluster of Najrān—a highland area north of Yemen—and by the coastal plain, the Tihāmah. Najd occupies a large part of the interior and includes the capital, Riyadh. Al-Hasa, in the east along the Persian Gulf, includes the principal petroleum-producing areas.

Nomadism, the form of land use with which the kingdom is traditionally associated, has become virtually nonexistent, and the pattern of extensive land use traditionally practiced by the nomadic Bedouin has been supplanted by the highly intensive patterns of urban land use. More than four-fifths of Saudi Arabia’s total population live in cities, and almost all of the rest live in government-supported agricultural enterprises.

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The major areas of population are in the central Hejaz, in Asir, in central Najd, and near the Persian Gulf.

The largest towns are cosmopolitan in character, and some are associated with dominant functions: Mecca and Medina are religious, Riyadh is political and administrative, and Jeddah is commercial. Dhahran (Al-Ẓahrān), near the Persian Gulf coast in Al-Sharqiyyah province, is the administrative center of Saudi Aramco (Arabian-American Oil Company), and nearby Al-Khubar and Al-Dammām are important commercial coastal towns. Al-Jubayl on the Gulf and Yanbuʿ on the Red Sea are the terminus points of oil and gas pipelines, and large petrochemical industrial complexes are located in both. Other large cities include Al-Ṭāʾif, Al-Hufūf, Tabūk, Buraydah, Al-Mubarraz, Khamīs Mushayṭ, Najrān, Ḥāʾil, Jīzān, and Abhā.

Demographic trends

A major demographic theme since the early 20th century has been the government’s policy of settling the Bedouin. This practice has largely been successful, though sedentary Bedouin remain strongly attached to their tribal affiliation. A second major theme has been an influx of foreign workers (first foreign Arabs and later workers from other regions) since the 1950s; no exact numbers are available, but it is generally agreed that these foreign workers have numbered in the millions. Some Arabs, particularly early arrivals, have been naturalized, but most are temporary, albeit often long-term, residents. Moreover, most of these are unaccompanied males who have left their families in their native land; this situation is particularly true for lower-paid workers. Although large numbers of Saudi citizens travel abroad for school or holiday, the number of those settling abroad is relatively small.

Thanks partly to the government’s policies promoting large families and partly to its large investment in health care, the country’s birth rate is well above the world average. The national death rate is markedly below the world standard. As a result, Saudi Arabia’s overall rate of natural increase is more than twice the world average, and its population is young, with roughly half under 30 years old and about one-fourth younger than 15. Life expectancy averages about 75 years.