Government | Thursday 4 February, 2016 7:20 am |

The population in Saudi Arabia recorded an annual growth of 2.4 percent, reaching 31.5 million by the end of 2015, according to the Central Department of Statistics and Information.

At 21.1 million, Saudis make up 67 percent of the population while expatriates at 10.4 million constitute 33 percent.

A population increase of 751,000 people (2.4 percent) was registered during the year 2015 compared to the same period the previous year. These included 427,000 Saudis (2.1 percent) and 324,000 expatriates (3.2 percent).

There has been a steady increase in the Saudi population over the past several years. The population was 22.6 million in 2004, which rose by 3.4 percent to 23.3 million in 2005. The highest percentage of annual growth was registered in 2010 at 8.6 percent, rising from 25.4 million to 27.6 million, the department figures showed.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was SR 2.45 trillion in 2015, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported. The GDP per capita in 2015 posted a 15 percent fall (SR14,200) to SR77,700 from SR91,900 in 2014. The per capita income that registered the highest growth in recent years was during the year 2011 with 16.7 percent reaching SR87,900 against SR71,100 in 2010.

However, the year 2009 witnessed the highest fall in the growth of per capita income by 19 percent (SR15,200), reaching SR63,400 from SR78,600 in 2008. The fall was lower in comprison to the plunge in many countries because of the global economic meltdown.

Per capita income shot up 80 percent from SR43,000 in 2004 to SR77,700 in 2015, the report pointed out.