Basic Overview of Saudi Arabia

Even as we all have heard about Saudi Arabia in one or the other context, the general knowledge most of us have about Saudi Arabia is probably pretty superficial ( as it was also in my case ).

Therefore, on this page I would like to share some basic information about Saudi Arabia.

Winter in Saudi Arabia

In the meantime, it has also become winter here in Saudi Arabia. Obviously, there is no snow, but the temperature has gone down significantly. I.e. during the night the temperature is in the range between 15°C and 20°C and during the day, it is between 20°C and 25°C - a range most probably most of us would describe as being perfect.

Sometimes in the morning, it is also a bit foggy here in the Eastern Region, as humidity moves inwards from the sea.

For a very few days per year there is also some [heavy] rain, which always ends up in a big chaos on the streets, because people are not used to drive in rain, and there is now drainage of the water, such that some areas of the street get flooded and in particular underpasses can no longer be used.

Geography & Population

Just as a simple comparison between Saudi Arabia and Switzerland in terms of their size with 2'149'700 km² vs. 41'300 km² :

And Saudi Arabia having a population of 28.2 million* inhabitants compared to 8.3 million* in Switzerland.

This corresponds to 13 inhabitants/km² in Saudi Arabia vs.
201 inhabitant/km² in the case of Switzerland.

... more to follow ...

* estimates for 2015