Saudi Arabia Environment - 2023


SOURCE: 2023 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES  Spanish Simplified Chinese French German Russian Hindi Arabic Portuguese

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; air pollution; waste management

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

harsh, dry desert with great temperature extremes

Land use

agricultural land: 80.7% (2018 est.)

arable land: 1.5% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.1% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 79.1% (2018 est.)

forest: 0.5% (2018 est.)

other: 18.8% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 85% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.69% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from forest resources

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 78.38 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 563.45 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 45.47 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 16,125,701 tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 2,418,855 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 15% (2015 est.)

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Indian Ocean drainage: (Persian Gulf) Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)

Major aquifers

Arabian Aquifer System

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 3.39 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 1.4 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 21.2 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

2.4 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Saudi Arabia on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Saudi Arabia 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Saudi Arabia 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.

This page was last modified 06 Dec 23, Copyright © 2023 ITA all rights reserved.