JUBAIL — The population estimates in Jubail and Jeddah indicate that the number of expatriates in these two cities is higher than the number of Saudis, Al-Watan Arabic daily quoted a source at the General Authority for Statistics on Wednesday.
The population of expats in Al-Ghat in Riyadh province is closely behind that of Saudis, said the source citing the 2015 estimates.
“The report states that the Kingdom’s population has reached 31.5 million. Of which 21.1 million are Saudis constituting 67 percent of the population. There are 10.4 million expatriates constituting 33 percent of the population,” said the source.
The number of expatriates in Jubail in the Eastern Province is 243,000 while that of Saudis is 205,000.
There are 2.13 million expats in Jeddah while Saudis are 1.9 million. The population of Saudis in Al-Ghat is 8,800 while that of expatriates is 8,158, said the source.
Ethar Forum for Social Studies and Research Head Mohammad Al-Subaie said the high population of expatriates in Jeddah and Jubail was alarming.
“To have more expatriates than nationals in a city will have many negative ramifications on the sociological, economic, demographic and cultural aspects. The culture of certain expatriate communities already dominates Jubail and is manifested through clothes and food,” said Al-Subaie.
He also said the Kingdom should include in its Vision 2030 a program to control the population of expatriates in cities.
“The people of Jeddah also have the right to preserve their identity. If there was no control over foreign cultures, the identity of the people of the city will dissipate,” said Al-Subaie.
