Population of Saudi at 30m

Foreigners make up around a third of the Saudi Arabia Kingdom's 30 million inhabitants, according to a study conducted by the economic unit of Al-Eqtesadiah. The Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI) estimated the Kingdom's total population to be 30 million at the end of 2013, a growth rate of 2.7 percent from the 29.1 million inhabitants in 2012, Arab News reported. By contrast, there were only 19.8 million Saudi citizens in 2012 versus 9.4 million foreigners, showing a slightly more accelerated Saudi population growth rate. Under its ninth five-year plan, the Kingdom is striving to make foreigners account for a little over a quarter (26.6 percent) of the total population in 2014. The average annual growth rate between 2004 and 2013 was pegged at 3.2 percent, but with vast fluctuations from year to year within that 10-year period. There was a 3.4 percent growth rate in both 2005 and 2006, which fell dramatically to half a percent in 2007, then climbed back up to 2.3 percent in 2008 and 2009. Growth rates then leaped to 7 percent in 2010, declining once again to 4.6 percent in 2011 and further to 2.9 and 2.7 in 2012 and 2013 respectively.