Saudi Arabia economy

Middle East economic data

Bahrain	Kuwait	Oman
Qatar	Saudi Arabia	UAE

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Saudi Arabia economic indicators at a glance

Oil remains the most important contributor to Saudi Arabia’s GDP although the kingdom’s investment, economic diversification and development programme – known as Vision 2030 – is easing its reliance on hydrocarbons. 

Financial services, tourism, manufacturing and petrochemicals are among Saudi Arabia’s leading non-oil sectors.

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Saudi Arabia GDP

Below is an overview of Saudi Arabia’s GDP, including key indicators such as nominal GDP, GDP per capita and GDP growth. These show the size of Saudi Arabia’s economy, the wealth distribution among its population and the pace of economic expansion.

Saudi Arabia nominal GDP

Saudi Arabia GDP per capita

As GDP per capita and nominal GDP data shows, Saudi Arabia’s economy contracted in 2020 – due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and again in 2023 after the country reduced its oil production by 25 percent as part of Opec+ output agreements.

Nominal GDP rose in 2024 and is forecast to expand further in 2025 and beyond, driven by oil revenues, strong fiscal policies and the country’s diversification efforts under Vision 2030.

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Saudi Arabia GDP growth

Growth in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil GDP has been relatively steady over the past five years, reflecting its ongoing Vision 2030-led economic diversification efforts, while the country’s oil GDP has fluctuated due to changes in production levels and crude prices.

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Saudi Arabia oil breakeven prices

Increased state spending led Saudi Arabia’s breakeven oil price to rise by nearly more than one-fifth from 2020 to 2024, although it is forecast to fall in 2025.

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Saudi Arabia inflation

Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate has been steady from 2022 onwards and should remain within the target range of about 2 percent until 2027 at least. 

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Saudi Arabia debt & current account balance

Saudi Arabia’s net borrowing peaked at 10.7 percent of GDP in 2020 as oil revenue plunged due to the global recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The country posted a surplus in 2022 and will post annual deficits of around 3 percent of GDP from 2024 onwards.

Government gross debt is projected to rise steadily due to increased infrastructure spending as part of its economic diversification efforts. State debt will be 33.1 percent of GDP in 2027.

Saudi Arabia’s current account balance recovered to a surplus of $151.5 billion in 2022 from a deficit of $25.5 billion in pandemic-affected 2020, but is forecast to fall again into negative territory from 2025 onwards.

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Saudi Arabia trade

Saudi Arabia’s trade activities have shifted due to global and regional economic changes.

Following modest growth in 2018 and 2019, Saudi Arabia’s goods and services exports suffered a sharp contraction in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Imports also plunged.

Both imports and exports grew in 2021 and have increased each year since apart from 2023 when exports shrunk slightly due to lower oil production and a downturn in the petrochemicals industry.

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Saudi Arabia’s top 10 trade partners

Saudi Arabia’s top exports include oil, plastics and organic chemicals and its top imports include machinery, vehicles and electronic equipment.

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Saudi Arabia foreign direct investment

Attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) is central to Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programme to diversify and develop its non-oil economy. 

Yet annual inward FDI has been volatile, significantly increasing in 2021 and 2022, but falling again in 2023.

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Saudi Arabia credit ratings

Saudi Arabia's sovereign ratings reflect its creditworthiness and economic stability. All three major ratings agencies give the country a high, investment-grade rating, which indicates confidence in its fiscal management and economic outlook.

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Saudi Arabia governance

Saudi Arabia's score in the Corruption Perceptions Index has fluctuated but it is now joint second best in the six-member GCC.

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Saudi Arabia population

Saudi Arabia life expectancy

Saudi Arabia's average life expectancy was rising before a brief decline due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Similarly, population growth stalled during the same period, but has been above 1 percent annually from 2022 onwards. 

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Expats in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia expats’ country of origin

Saudi Arabia's expat population as a share of the total population increased by 8 percentage points from 2020-2024.

More than 2.3 million migrants from Bangladesh live in Saudi Arabia and almost 2.2 million (over 90 percent) of these are male.

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Saudi Arabia employment

The unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia increased in 2018 and again in 2020 – the latter due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Government initiatives to raise Saudi nationals’ participation in the private sector and to bring more women into the workforce has helped reduce the unemployment rate to pre-pandemic levels. 

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Education in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia-based students’  performance in reading, maths and science is below the OECD average. These figures highlight the need for additional investment in education and for further reforms in teaching practices.

The charts and tables on this page are for general information purposes only. AGBI aims to keep the information up-to-date and correct, but makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of the information. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. All IMF, World Bank and United Nations data on this page is publicly available.

The latest IMF World Economic Outlook was published on April 25, 2025. The IMF says medium-term projections for all six GCC economies have been revised "based on developments in commodity markets and international trade as of April 4".