Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — There has been a decrease of 2.6 percent in the total population of Saudi Arabia by the middle of the year 2021, reaching 34.1 million people, compared to about 35 million people in the middle of the year 2020.

In a report published on Wednesday, the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) said that the main factor for the fall in the total population is the decrease in the number of non-Saudis by 8.6 percent after many non-Saudis left the country during the coronavirus pandemic period.

The authority noted that the Saudi population increased by 1.2 percent in mid-2021 on an annual basis. Men represented 56.8 percent of the total population, reaching 19.4 million individuals, while women constituted 43.2 percent, accounting for 14.7 million.

GASTAT pointed out that decrease in the total population was attributed mainly to the decline in the number of non-Saudi males residing in the Kingdom by 10.6 percent in mid-2021 on an annual basis, due to the increase in the number of expatriates who left the Kingdom during the coronavirus pandemic period.

The authority explained that the population decline in Saudi Arabia in the middle of the year 2021 came after it posted an increase reaching 35 million in 2020 from 34.2 million in 2019.

Saudis constituted 63.6 percent of the total population, while the non-Saudis represented the remaining 36.4 percent, the report pointed out.