| General Information |
Area : |
1,960,582 sq km |
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Border Countries : |
Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, UAE &
Yemen. |
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Natural resources : |
petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper |
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Capital : |
Riyadh |
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Administrative Divisions
: |
13 provinces (mintaqat, singular - mintaqah); Al Bahah, Al Hudud ash Shamaliyah, Al Jawf, Al Madinah, Al Qasim, Ar Riyad, Ash Sharqiyah (Eastern Province),
'Asir, Ha'il, Jizan, Makkah, Najran, Tabuk
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Legal System : |
based on Islamic law,
several secular codes have been introduced;
commercial disputes handled by special committees; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
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International Organization
participation : |
ABEDA, AfDB, AFESD, AL, AMF,
BIS, ESCWA, FAO, G-19, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAPEC, OAS (observer), OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer)
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GDP : |
purchasing power parity - $268.9 billion (2002 est.) |
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GDP per capita : |
purchasing power parity - $11,400 (2002 est.) | |
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In
1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al
Saud captured Riyadh and set out
on a 30-year campaign to unify the Arabian
Peninsula. In the 1930s, the discovery of
oil transformed the country. Following Iraq's invasion
of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia
accepted the Kuwaiti royal family and 400,000
refugees while allowing Western and Arab troops to
deploy on its soil for the
liberation of Kuwait the following year. A burgeoning
population, aquifer depletion, and an economy largely dependent
on petroleum output and prices are
all major governmental concerns. |
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The above information is from www.cia.gov
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