Saudi Arabia is known to the world as the center of Islam and one of the very few countries in the world to have maintained Islamic law the sharia. According to the U.S department of state (2010) Saudi Arabia remained as an absolute monarchy until 1992, at which time the Saud royal family introduced the country's first constitution based on the sharia. With an area of about 865,000 square miles, Saudi Arabia is roughly one-third the size of the continental United States, and the same size as all of Western Europe.
Saudi Arabia's oil region and main source of wealth lies along the Persian Gulf. This oil-derived wealth allowed the country to provide free health care and education while not collecting any taxes from its people. At the time of World War II Saudi Arabia had one-third of all known oil reserves, but falling demand and rising production outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) endangered the country with domestic unrest and undermining its influence in the Gulf area. However, they swiftly recovered with a blossoming economy.
Standard of living is calculated by ranks, such as real income per person and poverty ranks. Measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality and educational standards are also used. The best statistic for measuring standard of living is the same one the UN uses to measure the level of development of a nation. The human development index (HDI) which is used as an alternative to measuring GDP in order to determine the country's well-being. The HDI provides a measure of the average three aspects of human development, living a long and healthy life, education and having a decent standard of living. According to the latest U.N human development report (2007) Saudi Arabia's HDI value is .843. This denotes that Saudi Arabia ranks high on the human development index.
Other aspects taken into consideration when measuring the kingdom's HDI are life expectancy rates, under 5 mortality rates, and literacy rate. According to the latest U.N human development report (2007) Saudi Arabia's life expectancy rate is 72.7 years old. The under 5 mortality rate in Saudi Arabia is 21.27 deaths per 1,000 according to the World Bank (2008). In terms of literacy rate only 85% of Saudi Arabians are literate. The Saudi government is working on improving the literacy rate in Saudi Arabia. According to the latest U.N human development report (2009) Saudi Arabia's GDP rank minus HDI rank is at -19 a negative number indicates that the HDI rank is lower than the GDP per capita (PPP US$) and that poverty is low in that country.
Gender inequality occurs on a daily bases in Saudi Arabia. According to Abdella (2010) the kingdom allows men to twice the inheritance that women are allowed. Women are required to have a guardian escort them for many of life's daily tasks. Without the presence of a guardian, a woman cannot study, access health services, marry, travel abroad, have a business or even access an ambulance in an emergency. Saudi women do not have the right to drive. It is illegal for a woman to be in the company of a man who is not in her immediate family. Young women are still not allowed to study certain subjects, such as geology however it is indicated that women can travel abroad alone for studies .On the subject of polygamy, men are permitted by law to have up to four wives. Women do not have equal access to the courts or an equal opportunity to obtain justice. Abdella (2010) acknowledged that the government ought to evaluate laws and policies and revise basic Laws in order to ensure gender equality and exclude the discrimination of women.
In Saudi Arabia population growth is outpacing the economic growth and availability of services and infrastructure in the country. The CIA world fact book (2010) proved that by contrast to the U.S, Saudi Arabia experiences a high population growth rate of 1.85%. Saudi Arabia's growth rate is lower than average developing countries, which is typically around 2.5%; but higher than the U.S 1% population growth rate. Due to its population Growth Issues Saudi Arabia is facing difficulties in providing jobs, water, food and energy to its indigenous young population and there is a widening gap between the ability of the economy to create jobs and the population growth rate.
