Last updated Saudi Arabian students in school. Because schools are segregated by gender, there are only males in the class.
Youth in Saudi Arabia are the citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who are between the ages of 15 and 24. In 2015, the estimated population was around twenty-seven million, and 19.11% of the population was between the ages of 15 and 24.[1]
Religion impacts the lives of Saudi youth. The government enforces a strict form of Islam called Wahhabism as the national religion that affects the areas of family formation, education and political activism.[2] Islam teaches youth that family should be central to their lives and to respect their parents.[3] Education in Saudi Arabia largely focuses on learning Islam and memorization.[4] These focuses contribute to the employment difficulties of youth as they are not learning the skills that employers look for.[3][5] High cost of living and career opportunities were two primary concerns of youth in 2014.[3]
Saudi youth have difficulties being active participants in politics because of the strict Wahhabi religious doctrine and possible punishments. Saudi youth do want a say in their country's political policies and are achieving this by using popular media.[6][7] The Tenth Development Plan's objectives address ways in which youth would be involved in the development of the country.[8]
Two health concerns that are present in Saudi youth are smoking and obesity. A 2011 study done in Riyadh found that smoking rates among Saudi youth were "high and alarming". Out of 1272 students studied, the percentage of students that were currently smoking was about 19.5% (31.2% of boys and 8.9% of girls), and the percentage of students that had smoked before was about 42.8% (55.6% of boys and 31.4% of girls).[9] Almost 60% of the Saudi population over sixteen was considered obese in 2014.[10]
No official national youth policy currently exists; however, the Ministry of Economy and Planning and the United Nations Development Programme worked together between 2009 and 2013 in order to make a "national youth strategy".[7] The National Youth Strategy Project received $1,182,720 and aimed at "enhancing participation of youth in national development processes".[7]
The Ninth Development Plan (2010–2014) has a youth section that talks about factors affecting youth and ways to improve their lives.[7] Under the Ninth Developmental Plan, Saudi Arabia's primary governmental agency that is responsible for youth and youth programming is the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, which has a budget of $1.9 billion.[7]
The General Presidency for Youth Welfare promotes multiple cultural activities, including arts and crafts and drama and folklore clubs.[11] It oversees clubs and agencies involved in youth sports and social activities in order to guarantee "balanced development across all youth activities".[12]
The Tenth Development Plan (2015–2019) had as some of its objectives to promote and enhance education as well as youth participation in the development of the country.[8]
Religion
In a 2011 report, it was found that sympathy or agreement with the Al-Qaeda vision of Islam or its ideology is not common among young Saudis because the government of Saudi Arabia termed it as a "deviant" view of Islam.[13]
In 2014, a survey conducted for the Boston Consultancy Group report on Saudi youth found that 97% of them considered Islam "as the main influence that shapes their identity."[14]
The Tenth Development Plan (2015-2019) had as one of its objectives to maintain Islamic teachings and values in the lives of its citizens, including youth.
Due to increased media participation and education, young Saudis are forming their own ideas and views about what is religiously acceptable.[13] Younger Saudis "do not defer to the clerics' pronouncements to the same extent as their older siblings and parents did", according to Caryle Murphy's article, Saudi Arabia's Youth and the Kingdom's Future.[13]
The teachings of Islam say that the family is central in a person's life and that youth should always show respect towards parents.[3] 98% of young Saudis that responded to a 2014 survey had as one of their goals to make their parents proud.[3] 86% of respondents to the same survey said that they "socialize face-to-face with their parents and relatives every day".[3]
Traditionally, the family in Saudi Arabia was hierarchical, with the male ruling over the female and the old ruling over the young.[15] Women were seen as crucial to maintaining the structure of the family by assuming the tasks of managing the house and taking care of the children.[16] Women, though, are no longer confined to the house because more are receiving an education and working outside the home.[16]
Young people are also delaying the age at which they get married, according to Saudi Arabia's Ninth Development Plan.[12] Between the years of 1979 and 2007, there was an increase in the age of marriage, with males being 1.9 years older (27.2 years old) and females being 4.6 years older (24.6 years old).[12] The high cost of marriage ceremonies, and getting and furnishing a home are two reasons that the Ninth Development Plan cites for youth delaying marriage.[12]
The adjusted net enrollment rate for primary school age children was 97% in 2014, according to the World Bank Group.[17] In 2013, the net enrollment rate in secondary school for both sexes was 91.55%.[7]
Students attend primary school starting at the age of six until they are twelve years old. Intermediate school is attended by youth that are ages twelve to fifteen, and fifteen- to eighteen-year-olds participate in secondary school.[4]
Schools are segregated by sex: boys are taught by male teachers, while girls are primarily taught by female teachers.[4] Originally, women's education focused on domestic science.[15] They were primarily taught how to be a good mother and wife.
Curriculum that is being taught to students in Saudi Arabia has a religious base, specifically Islamic teachings.[4] It emphasizes memorization, rather than solving the problem.[4] Because employers do not always utilize these skills in their business, it is increasingly difficult for young Saudis to find a job.[5] In response to the educational shortcomings, King Abdullah established his Public Education Development Project, which was launched in 2007. This was an approximately $3 billion program designed to improve public education.[18] Some of the goals that this project has for improving youth education are "improving the educational environment and preparing to utilize information and communication technology (ICT) in education to stimulate learning. This is in order to achieve a higher level of efficiency in acquiring information and training, as well as strengthening personal and creative capabilities, developing skills and hobbies, satisfying psychological needs of students, and strengthening ideas as well as national and social relations through extra-curricular activities of various kinds".[18] The Public Education Development Project and King Abdullah's scholarship seeks to help students develop problem solving skills as well as a comprehensive world view by allowing students to study in other countries of the world.[5]
The Ninth Development Plan addresses some policies that can be implemented in order to make the educational system better. For example, it aims to widen the participation of youth in school and university activities, which would make the school more connected to society.[12]
Upgrading the academic curriculum so that it is "in line with contemporary knowledge", "developing the curriculum of science, mathematics, engineering and technology" and making sure that Saudi university and scholarship graduates end up in the labor market are three educational objectives of the Tenth Development Plan.[8]
Even with these plans in place, there is still criticism of the educational system of Saudi Arabia.[5] Almost half of the students at the primary and secondary education level were not learning at the levels they should be, and one in three Saudi youth said that education was in their top three areas of concern, according to a 2014 survey.[3] Saudi youth believed that they were receiving a good education in terms of Islamic teachings and basic academic subjects; however, they did not feel that they were being adequately prepared to do well in the workforce. These feelings emanated from not being taught soft skills, such as problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, effective communication and critical thinking, that are valued by private-sector employers.[3]
In 2013, 58% (gross percent) of the Saudi population was enrolled in tertiary education.[19] It is estimated that 63% of the degrees that students get are not "useful for private-sector jobs".[5]
Economics
In 2015, the estimated unemployment rate for Saudis that are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-nine is 29%.[5] Approximately 1.9 million Saudis will enter the labor force in the next decade.[5]
Saudi youth cited career opportunities and the high cost of living as concerns in a 2014 survey.[3] Both of these areas had regional disparities. For example, 43% of youth respondents from the northern part of the country said that career opportunities were a great concern.[3] 23% of youth respondents from the center part of the country, which includes the capital Riyadh, cited career opportunities as a concern.[3] The differences in responses could be the result of a greater number of jobs being available in the capital.[3]
Nearly 60% of youth respondents cited the high cost of living as one of their top three concerns in the 2014 survey.[3] A young Saudi commented that "currently, salaries are very low, and the cost of living is very high. If a young man earns 3,000 or 4,000 riyals per month, how can he afford the cost of living when he might be spending around 200 or 300 riyals per day?"[3] 77% of youth from the east and 71% of youth from the south compared to 38% of youth that resided in the center that participated in the 2014 survey cited high cost of living as a top concern.[3]
Youth in this country are concerned with the number of foreigners employed within the country because they limit the number of jobs native Saudis can get.[5] In 2013, it was estimated that about 7.5 million foreigners were legally working within the country.[20] King Salman and the kingdom's ministries are trying to address this situation through a process known as "Saudization". Saudization is a national movement that seeks to increase the number of citizens employed within the country.[5] Requiring employers to meet quotas of Saudi workers is one way that Saudization will be achieved and affects youth because they are or will be entering the labor force.[5]
Suffrage and political engagement
Men are allowed to vote at twenty-one years old.[21] In 2015, women were allowed to vote in the municipal elections that was held in December 2015.[22] They will only be allowed to vote at the municipal level elections.[22]
"Arbitrary arrest and long-term detention" for anyone that speaks out against government policies are two reasons that youth are deterred from being politically active.[13] Access to any improvements that the government tries to make in regard to unemployment compensation, housing availability and education would also be lost if youth participated in protest or explicit discontent with the government.[13] The Wahhabi religious doctrine, which the country promotes, states that "opposition to the government, especially street protests, is religiously forbidden".[13]
Saudi youth want a say in governmental policies and procedures because of their increased exposure to the world through social media and the difficulties they are facing (unemployment, living costs and education).[5] In 2012, it was estimated that YouTube use in the country increased 260%, and an estimated one-third of Saudis are active Twitter users.[3][6] Saudi youth will use Twitter in order to voice their discontent over a lack of political rights, and 63% of youth said that they would like the government to give them increased participation and access to formulating and implementing policy at the local level in a 2011 survey.[6][7]
In order for youth to effectively participate in the country's development process, part of the Tenth Development Plan's objectives seek to speed up the process of implementing the National Youth Strategy as well as conduct surveys asking youth to comment on their issues and needs, so that the country knows what services to provide for them.[8]
Smoking is one health concern that affects Saudi youth. Smoking prevalence among sixteen- to eighteen-year-old students in secondary schools located in Riyadh was "high and alarming", according to a 2011 study published in the Annals of Thoracic Medicine.[9] Out of 1272 students studied, the percentage of students that were currently smoking was about 19.5% (31.2% of boys and 8.9% of girls), and the percentage of students that had smoked before was about 42.8% (55.6% of boys and 31.4% of girls).[9] Smoking habits are linked to males, friends that smoke and parents that smoke.[9] Two reasons why youth in Saudi Arabia smoked were because it made people "look more comfortable" and made people of the opposite sex more attractive.[9] 88.4% of students believed that smoking is harmful to one's health, but only 31.8% of students wanted to quit smoking, according to the 2011 study.[9] The authors of this study believe that educational programs on the risks of smoking need to be implemented in schools in order to reduce smoking rates.[9]
Obesity is another health concern that affects Saudi youth. Almost 60% of the Saudi population over age sixteen was overweight.[10] 21.8% of male students (18–24 years) that were studying at the College of Health and Sciences campus at Qassim University were overweight, and 15.7% were obese, according to a 2010 study.[23]
The risk of attaining cardiovascular disease can be high among youth.[24] Out of 523 males students chosen from schools in Arar with a mean age of 16.7 years, 30.4% were obese and 17.2% were overweight.[24] 33.5% of participants in the study were at risk of getting cardiovascular disease.[24] The risk of cardiovascular disease was "strongly related to different dietary and lifestyle habits".[24]
Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest state in the Arab world, with a reported population of 32,175,224 as of 2022. 41.6% of inhabitants are immigrants. Saudi Arabia has experienced a population explosion in the last 40 years, and continues to grow at a rate of 1.62% per year.
The economy of Saudi Arabia is the largest in the Middle East and the eighteenth largest in the world. A permanent and founding member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia is also a member of the G20 forum as one of the world's largest economies.
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about 2150000 km2, making it the fifth-largest country in Asia and the largest in the Middle East. It is bordered by the Red Sea to the west; Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; the Persian Gulf, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the east; Oman to the southeast; and Yemen to the south. Bahrain is an island country off its east coast. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northwest separates Saudi Arabia from Egypt and Israel. Saudi Arabia is the only country with a coastline along both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and most of its terrain consists of arid desert, lowland, steppe, and mountains. Saudi Arabia's capital and largest city is Riyadh; the kingdom also is the location of Islam's two holiest cities of Mecca and Medina.
Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Youth is also defined as "the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc., characteristic of one, who is young". Its definitions of a specific age range varies, as youth is not defined chronologically as a stage that can be tied to specific age ranges; nor can its end point be linked to specific activities, such as taking unpaid work, or having sexual relations.
The cultural setting of Saudi Arabia is greatly influenced by the Arab and Islamic culture. The society is in general deeply religious, conservative, traditional, and family-oriented. Many attitudes and traditions are centuries-old, derived from Arab civilization and Islamic heritage. However, its culture has also been affected by rapid change, as the country was transformed from an impoverished nomadic society into a rich commodity producer in just a few years in the 1970s. This change has also been affected by and the result of a number of factors including the communications revolution and external scholarships. The most recent ruler or king of Saudi is King Salman of Saudi Arabia.
Public education—from primary education through college—is open to every Saudi citizen. The second largest governmental spending in Saudi Arabia goes for education. Saudi Arabia spends 8.8% of its gross domestic product on education, which is nearly double the global average of 4.6%. Islamic studies are part of the education system alongside scientific and social studies that vary from educational institution to another.
Saudization, officially the Saudi nationalization scheme and also known as Nitaqat, is a policy that is implemented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, which requires companies and enterprises to fill their workforce with Saudi nationals up to certain levels.
Articles related to Saudi Arabia include:
Women's rights in Saudi Arabia are a topic of concern and controversy internationally. Saudi women have experienced major legal rights reforms since 2017, after facing Wahhabism religious fundamentalist dominance dating from 1979.
Health in Saudi Arabia refers to the overall health of the population of Saudi Arabia. Government prioritization of preventive healthcare and environmental health began in 1925 following the establishment a public health department. The decision to create it came after a royal decree from King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud. The government announced plans to increase taxes on soft drinks and tobacco in December 2015.
Chronic, non-communicable diseases account for an estimated 80% of total deaths and 70% of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost in China. Cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are the leading causes of both death and of the burden of disease, and exposure to risk factors is high: more than 300 million men smoke cigarettes and 160 million adults are hypertensive, most of whom are not being treated. An obesity epidemic is imminent, with more than 20% of children aged 7–17 years in big cities now overweight or obese. Rates of death from chronic disease in middle-aged people are higher in China than in some high-income countries.
Obesity is common in the United States and is a major health issue associated with numerous diseases, specifically an increased risk of certain types of cancer, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, as well as significant increases in early mortality and economic costs.
In Kuwait, life expectancy at birth in 2013 was 78 for men and 79 for women.
Saudi Americans are Americans of total or partial Saudi descent. According to the 2000 census, 7,419 people of Saudi origin were living in the United States of America (USA). In 2015, according to the American Community Survey, 96,783 Saudi-born people were living in the USA. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the USA have had important political relations since the 1940s. Population estimates are seen to have a very small diaspora, mainly because the KSA provides native Saudis with more than adequate welfare benefits, removing the need to live and work in other developed countries.
Obesity in the Middle East and North Africa is a notable health issue. Out of the fifteen fattest nations in the world as of 2014, 5 were located in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Australians in Saudi Arabia are a sizeable community consisting mainly of expatriates. Their population is estimated to be anywhere up to 5,000 with the majority based in major commercial centres such as Riyadh and Jeddah. Most Australian citizens in Saudi Arabia tend to be occupational-oriented and are employed mainly in the health, education, construction and technology sectors. There are approximately 1,000 Australians who live in Jeddah alone, a city which serves as the country's main port and economic hub. In addition, thousands of Australian Muslims travel and stay in Saudi Arabia each year, often intending to visit the two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina. Many expatriates in Saudi Arabia are attracted to what they refer to as "the good life", including large salaries and tax-free jobs, consistent weather and a comfortable social life within their housing compounds.
Higher education in the Arab world is non-compulsory, formal education that occurs after secondary education in the twenty-two Arab states.
Saudi Arabia is a theocracy organized according to the principles of Islam, which puts emphasis on the importance of knowledge and education. In Islamic belief, obtaining knowledge is the only way to gain true understanding of life, and as such, both men and women are encouraged to study. The way of practicing Wahhabi Islam has therefore led to gendered segregation in education in Saudi Arabia, which further perpetuates gender division in political, economic, and labor force environments.
Yasmin Ahmed Almubarak Altwaijri is a Senior Scientist and the Head of Epidemiology Research at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As the Head of Epidemiology Research, she studies the causes and effects of diseases and illnesses within a specific country, in her case Saudi Arabia. She studies the prevalence of conditions such as obesity and mental illness in Saudi society, and is active in advocating for social and political changes to promote better health.
Smoking in Saudi Arabia is banned in airports, workplaces, universities, research centers, hospitals, government buildings, all public places, places involved with tourism, and in and around all places associated with religion, education, public events, sporting establishments, charity associations, all forms of public transport and their associated facilities, plants for manufacturing or processing items, and a large proportion of public places.
↑ Thompson, Mark (2019). Being Young, Male and Saudi: Identity and Politics in a Globalized Kingdom. Cambridge University Press. p.33.
1 2 Booth, Marilyn (June 2012). "Arab Adolescents Facing the Future: Enduring Ideals and Pressures to Change". The World's Youth: Adolescence in Eight Regions of the Globe. Cambridge University Press. pp.207–242. ISBN9780511613814.
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