The last time a national census was conducted in this country was some 30 years ago. Since then major social changes have been taking place, the most important being the unprecedented increase in population numbers.
A friend of mine married for the first time two years after the last census was conducted. Two years later he took a second wife. Now my friend, who is in his early fifties, has more than 20 children and grandchildren.
Right now he is looking for a third wife, saying he still thinks he is young and is physically and financially capable of raising more children.
I don’t know how many men like him are there in the country, but their number must be big, probably in the thousands, and the number of their children and grandchildren in the millions. All these were not covered in the last census, and since no census has been conducted after they were born, no one knows the exact numbers.
The statistics we now have on the population distribution in the Kingdom are mostly interpretative and do not reflect the real situation. The percentage of Saudi youth to the total number of the population is sometimes given at 75 percent, while in other sources it is 80 percent. The same applies for unemployment rates, which vary from 8 percent to 30 percent and are sometimes given at 45 percent.
Amid these conflicting figures, no one knows exactly what the correct numbers are. Again, the reason for this confusion is the absence of a reliable census that can tell us exactly the how many we are, who is employed and who is not, and how many poor citizens we have.
This is extremely important if we are to address the two most serious issues this country is facing, unemployment and poverty. A new census is now being planned. Although it comes late, it nevertheless provides a good opportunity to find out where we exactly we stand now.
We hope to see it bring quick results to help planners, especially in relation to unemployment and poverty. There also has to be a mechanism for censuses to be conducted every five years without having to wait for decades, as happened last time.
Arab News From the Local Press 3 August 2003
