section_path: Demographics
section_name: Demographics
paragraph_text: Demographics
  
  Saudi Arabia's reported population is 32,175,224 as of 2022, making it the fourth most populous country in the Arab world. Close to 42% of its inhabitants are immigrants, mostly from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
  
  The Saudi population has grown rapidly since 1950, when it was estimated at 3 million. For much of the 20th century, the country had one of the highest population growth rates in the world, at around 3% annually; it continues to grow at a rate of 1.62% per year, slightly higher than the rest of the Middle East and North Africa. Consequently, the Saudi people are quite young by global standards, with over half the population under 25 years old,
  
  The ethnic composition of Saudi citizens is 90% Arab and 10% Afro-Arab. Most Saudis are concentrated in the southwest; Hejaz, which is the most populated region, is home to one-third of the population, followed by neighbouring Najd (28%) and the Eastern Province (15%). As late as 1970, most Saudis lived a subsistence life in the rural provinces, but in the last half of the 20th century, the kingdom has urbanized rapidly: as of 2023, about 85% of Saudis live in urban metropolitan areas—specifically Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. As recently as the early 1960s, Saudi Arabia's slave population was estimated at 300 000. Slavery was officially abolished in 1962.