Manama: A third of Saudi Arabia’s population comprises foreigners, according to official statistics.
According to the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat), the vast kingdom is home to 30.77 million people, including 10.7 million foreigners, who constitute 32.72 per cent of the total figure.
The percentage is the lowest in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Saudi daily Al Riyadh reported on Thursday.
According to the daily, foreigners make up 87 per cent of the total population in the UAE, 86 per cent in Qatar and 70 per cent in Kuwait.
Most foreigners in the GCC are unskilled Asians working in the construction and service sectors.
According to the figures published by GaStat, Makkah where the holy sites are located is the most populous city in the Saudi kingdom with 7,897,975 residents, including 4,554,999 Saudi nationals and 3,342,976 non-Saudis.
Riyadh, the capital, is second with 7,717,467 people, including 4,754,974 Saudis and 2,962,520 foreigners.
The Eastern Province comes third with a total population of 4,650,183, divided between 3,199,421 Saudis and 1,450,762 foreigners.
None of the top 13 cities and areas cited in the statistics has a number of foreigners that is higher than that of Saudis.
The figures reflect the status of the population in Saudi Arabia in 2014, GaStat said.
