Is Saudi Arabia in the Middle East?

Saudi Arabia's position within the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia's position within the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is the fifth biggest country in Asia and the twelfth largest on earth. Saudi Arabia is bordered by the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, and Jordan. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Ibn Saud in 1932 when the united four distinct regions Asir, Al-Ahsa, Najd, and Hejaz.

Is Saudi Arabia in the Middle East?

Yes, Saudi Arabia is in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is the biggest Middle Eastern country. Saudi Arabia is a middle and regional power. Saudi Arabia is the fifth-most-populous state in the Middle East with over 31,521,000 people. The residents of Saudi Arabia represent about 7.64% of the entire population of the Middle East. The Middle East is a transcontinental Asian region that is made up of eighteen countries. The area experiences an arid and hot climate with numerous rivers providing irrigation water that supports farming.

Geography of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest states in Asia, and it is geographically the biggest country in the Arabian Plate. It occupies about 80% of Arabia. The country’s terrain is dominated by numerous highlands, mountain ranges, and the Arabian Desert, which is associated with shrubland and a semi-desert. Saudi Arabia is made up of linked deserts, and this includes the 250,001 square miles Rub’ al Khali (the biggest contiguous sand desert on earth). Saudi Arabia has some few lakes and wadis, but no permanent rivers. The fertile regions in Saudi Arabia can be found in the alluvial deposits in oases, basins, and wadis. Asir (the southern province of Saudi Arabia) is mountainous and home to the 10,279 feet Mount Sawda (the highest point in Saudi Arabia).

Demographics

Saudi Arabia had over 26.9 million residents by 2013 which included over 5.5 million non-nationalized immigrants. The population of Saudi Arabia has increased rapidly since 1950, and for numerous years the country had one of the world’s highest birth rate of over 3%. The ethnic composition of the country is 10% of Afro-Asian and 90% Arabs. A huge percentage of the Saudis reside in Hejaz (35%), Eastern Province (15%), and Najd (28%). The most highly populated region in Saudi Arabia is Hejaz.

Religion

Almost all the people living in Saudi Arabia are Muslim. Over 75% of the Muslims in Saudi Arabia are Sunni Muslims while 25% are Shia Muslims. The dominant and official type of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia is referred to as Wahhabism. 

Languages

Arabic is the official language of Saudi Arabia with the main regional variants being Gulf Arabic, Najdi Arabic, and Hejazi Arabic. A considerable number of expatriates living in Saudi Arabia use their native language. Some of these languages include Indonesian (250,000), Egyptian Arabic (300,000), Urdu (380,000), Rohingya (400,000), and Tagalog (700,000).

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