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Saudi Arabia's population is 58 percent male. Here's why.

لماذا 58 في المئة من سكان السعودية ذكور

2026-07-26

Saudi Arabia's population is roughly 58 percent male, one of the most skewed ratios anywhere. Nothing biological is happening: among Saudi citizens the split is normal. The tilt comes from migrant workers, mostly men, who make up over a third of everyone in the country.

Construction, transport and services run on this workforce, drawn heavily from South Asia, Egypt and, yes, Sudan.

Saudization policies keep nudging employers toward citizen hiring, and the giga-projects keep pulling in the other direction. The sex ratio is a live scoreboard of that tug of war.