ed the Kuwaiti royal
family and 400,000 refugees while allowing Western and Arab troops to
deploy on its soil for the liberation of Kuwait the following year. A
burgeoning population, aquifer depletion, and an economy largely
dependent on petroleum output and prices are all major governmental
concerns.

@Saudi Arabia:Geography

Location: Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea,
north of Yemen

Geographic coordinates: 25 00 N, 45 00 E

Map references: Middle East

Area:
total: 1,960,582 sq km
land: 1,960,582 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly more than one-fifth the size of the US

Land boundaries:
total: 4,415 km
border countries: Iraq 814 km, Jordan 728 km, Kuwait 222 km, Oman 676
km, Qatar 60 km, UAE 457 km, Yemen 1,458 km

Coastline: 2,640 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 18 nm
continental shelf: not specified
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: harsh, dry desert with great extremes of temperature

Terrain: mostly uninhabited, sandy desert

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: Jabal Sawda' 3,133 m

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper

Land use:
arable land: 2%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 56%
forests and woodland: 1%
other: 41% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 4,350 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: frequent sand and dust storms

Environment - current issues: desertification; depletion of
underground water resources; the lack of perennial rivers or permanent
water bodies has prompted the development of extensive seawater
desalination facilities; coastal pollution from oil spills

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: extensive coastlines on Persian Gulf and Red Sea
provide great leverage on shipping (especially crude oil) through
Persian Gulf and Suez Canal

@Saudi Arabia:People

Population: 22,023,506
note: includes 5,360,526 non-nationals (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 43% (male 4,781,695; female 4,607,038)
15-64 years: 55% (male 7,093,567; female 4,969,848)
65 years and over: 2% (male 309,638; female 261,720) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.28% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 37.47 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 6.02 deaths/1,000 population