Ipsos, a research company in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has launched the Saudi edition of Ipsos Flair, an international publication founded in 2005 with the aim of presenting a view of society based on observation and interpretation of the behaviors, attitudes and opinions of consumers and citizens.
“Flair Saudi Arabia 2021” integrates the analysis of trends and all insights needed in order to understand a country at a specific time. It aims at providing insights and an understanding of society with an original perspective from experts. Some of its observations are:
• Saudi Arabia’s economy is large: The GDP reached $793 billion in 2019, accounting for 21 percent of the MENA region’s total GDP, i.e. four times its share of the region’s population (5.73 percent).
• Saudis are still very young: 40 percent of the population is under 25, including 49 percent of the Saudi nationals.
• As a consequence of this young population, social media’s penetration is extremely high: 72 percent of Saudis are active social media users. Saudi Arabia is said to have the largest social media presence in the world. With 40.2 million mobile subscribers, mobile penetration stands at a record 116 percent of the total population.
• Women’s participation in the workforce is increasing: The ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (modeled ILO estimate) in Saudi Arabia was reported at 28.29 percent in 2020.
• An ambitious Vision 2030 strategy aims to diversify the economy and reduce its dependency on oil exports. The government has approached investors for expanding the role of the private sector in healthcare, education and tourism. According to the preliminary estimates, the oil sector’s output contracted by 4.6 percent, in the first quarter of 2020, while the non-oil sector recorded a positive growth rate of 1.6 percent. Within the non-oil sector, the private sector grew by 1.4 percent and the government sector by 1.9 percent.
• To boost its transition from an oil-based economy to one based on tourism, the government introduced in September 2019, a new e-visa program, which allows visitors from 49 countries to travel to the Kingdom either by applying ahead of time or upon arrival. Ipsos data shows that Saudis are largely confident that the Kingdom provides the necessary level of entertainment that will appeal to tourists’ expectations (70 percent) and that their country’s infrastructure has the ability to handle a large number of tourists (66 percent).
• The majority of Saudis are supportive of the government’s new infrastructure plans. They foresee new and affordable homes, new roads, and new railway lines, and a more comprehensive and friendly transportation network across the country.
