Considerable changes have happened in the last five decades in Saudi Arabia. The improvement can be seen in many different fields. The most noticeable improving field is education, for example the number of illiterate people has decreased from 64% in 1972 to less than 4% nowadays. Saudi Arabia today has more educated people than it had in the past decades. Saudi government is pouring large amount of money to improve education, due to its quality that has become less than the education quality in the developed countries.
Saudi Arabia has very strong economy. It has one of the strongest in the world. However per capita income now is lower than it was in 1981. Although the Saudi standard of living currently is higher than it was ten years ago, but the poverty is more than it was in that time. The cost of living now is slightly more expensive than it was before the world economic crisis. The Saudi government has tried to solve this issue by raising the citizens’ income, but unfortunately the price has risen faster.
People who visit any Saudi city, especially the main ones, may notice that the housing construction is taking place all around. Even though the population growing is still faster than the houses increasing. The proportion of people who do not own houses has doubled. That does not mean only it has become difficult to find a please to live in, but also it means that the cost of owning a house is significantly higher than the citizens incomes.
د. فهد بن عبد العزيز الغفيلي Dr. Fahd Alghofaili 