How Many States Does Saudi Arabia Has

How many states does Saudi Arabia has Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has centralised political control and is unlikely to be challenged domestically as de facto ruler. Saudi Arabia is facing the complex economic challenge of reducing its reliance on oil. To address this, MBS has promoted Saudi Vision 2030, an economic development, modernisation, and diversification programme that includes limited social liberalisation. Its measures reduce the role of traditional key pillars of the Saudi governance model – senior members of the Al Saud family and the religious establishment. The government is likely to continue to favour policies designed to improve public sector efficiency. The short-term economic outlook is very favourable, as rising oil production, relatively high oil prices, and modest risk of reimposition of the pandemic-related lockdown measures indicate a robust economic rebound in 2022.

Longer-term economic prospects are more uncertain, with progress in reducing oil dependency still unclear. The Public Investment Fund , Saudi Arabia's main sovereign wealth fund, government ministries, and other public-sector entities are leading a broad-based investment initiative relating to several large-scale megaprojects. In addition, domestic companies have been directed to invest in the country's infrastructure under Vision 2030.

Overall, government-sponsored investments will be key in achieving the Vision 2030 targets. Under MBS, Saudi Arabia has improved the operational framework for businesses, boosting the country's competitiveness versus other Gulf states as a business location. However, IHS Markit assesses that Saudi Arabia's more opaque legal and regulatory frameworks need further adjustment to become fully competitive. The government is likely to strengthen enforcement of its mandate that government contracts will only be awarded to companies with a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia by 2024. The Saudi government has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, a policy target that Saudi Aramco announced that it aims to achieve by 2050, placing longer-term pressure on the kingdom's external and fiscal accounts.

Saudi projects remain at risk of being targeted by Iran and the Ansar Allah militant group, but such attacks are unlikely to directly target the megaprojects connected to the Vision 2030 programme. Saudi energy assets remain a high-risk target for UAV and missile attacks by Iran and the Houthi. There is a higher likelihood of Iranian attacks on Saudi shipping and hydrocarbon infrastructure while nuclear negotiations continue. According to IHS Markit data, their frequency has increased steadily through 2021, despite improved ability of Saudi air defences to intercept such weapons. The Saudi MOH has served the traditional role of the chief governmental health coordinator. These include regulating health products and quality of services, and setting prices.

It also allocates global budgets for each hospital through each regional health directorate. However, one significant difference is the lack of comprehensive authority. Unlike many countries where the healthcare ministry exercises authority over all segments of their healthcare systems, the Saudi MOH lacks authority over two important public sector health systems. The university teaching hospitals and the military hospitals fall outside of their purview. Also, the MOH exerts only indirect control over the growing private sector. The highest proportion of households in the Kingdom are in apartments (41.1%), followed by traditional house (26.2%), villa (17.7%), and floor of a villa (17.7%).

Makkah Al-Mokarammah has 54.1 percent; Al-Madina Al-Monawarah has 51.1 percent; the Eastern Region has 46.4 percent; and Tabouk has 46.4 percent of households in apartments . The Jazan and Hail regions have a low share of such housings (13.4% and 14.1%, respectively) revealing that housing developments differ regionally in the Kingdom. While major regions such as Al-Riyadh, Makkah Al-Mokarramah and the Eastern Region have developed modernized apartments, other regions have not. Thus, single family house incorporating the privacy features and greater number of rooms, providing for segregation of sexes and the guests appears to be the preferred type of dwelling unit in the Kingdom (Rahmaan et al. 1990). In 2015, the Kingdom incurred a budget deficit estimated at 13% of GDP, and it faces a deficit of $87 billion in 2016, which will be financed by bond sales and drawing down reserves. Although the Kingdom can finance high deficits for several years by drawing down its considerable foreign assets or by borrowing, it has announced plans to cut capital spending in 2016.

Some of these plans to cut deficits include introducing a value-added tax and reducing subsidies on electricity, water, and petroleum products. In January 2016, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister MUHAMMAD BIN SALMAN announced that Saudi Arabia intends to list shares of its state-owned petroleum company, ARAMCO - another move to increase revenue and outside investment. The government has also looked at privatization and diversification of the economy more closely in the wake of a diminished oil market. Historically, Saudi Arabia has focused diversification efforts on power generation, telecommunications, natural gas exploration, and petrochemical sectors. More recently, the government has approached investors about expanding the role of the private sector in the healthcare, education and tourism industries.

While Saudi Arabia has emphasized their goals of diversification for some time, current low oil prices may force the government to make more drastic changes ahead of their long-run timeline. In 2017, the Kingdom incurred a budget deficit estimated at 8.3% of GDP, which was financed by bond sales and drawing down reserves. More recently, the government has approached investors about expanding the role of the private sector in the health care, education and tourism industries.

The councils have too little to say on budgeting for projects or executing them. The law divided Saudi Arabia into 13 regions each of which is headed by a prince from the royal family, each region has a Regional Council that include in it the governors in the region. The head of the regional council, the emir, is appointed by the king and has the rank of minister. Each region has a number of governorates, the total number of governorates in KSA is 118 governorates and within these governorates are 285 municipal councils.

The council's membership consists of the local heads of the sectorial ministries, the heads of government agencies, ten citizens and local civic leaders. The council maintains law and order and supervise socio-economic development. In 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by a nephew, and was succeeded by his half-brother Khalid as king and prime minister. Their half-brother, Prince Fahd, was named crown prince and first deputy prime minister. King Khalid empowered Crown Prince Fahd to oversee many aspects of the government's affairs. Economic development continued rapidly under King Khalid, and the kingdom assumed a more influential role in regional politics and international economic and financial matters.

From 2003 to 2013, "several key services" were privatized—municipal water supply, electricity, telecommunications—and parts of education and health care, traffic control and car accident reporting were also privatized. In November 2005, Saudi Arabia was approved as a member of the World Trade Organization. Negotiations to join had focused on the degree to which Saudi Arabia is willing to increase market access to foreign goods and in 2000, the government established the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority to encourage foreign direct investment in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia maintains a list of sectors in which foreign investment is prohibited, but the government plans to open some closed sectors such as telecommunications, insurance, and power transmission/distribution over time. The government has also made an attempt at "Saudizing" the economy, replacing foreign workers with Saudi nationals with limited success. The king combines legislative, executive, and judicial functions and royal decrees form the basis of the country's legislation.

The king is also the prime minister, and presides over the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. The family's vast numbers allow it to control most of the kingdom's important posts and to have an involvement and presence at all levels of government. The number of princes is estimated to be at least 7,000, with most power and influence being wielded by the 200 or so male descendants of Ibn Saud. The key ministries are generally reserved for the royal family, as are the 13 regional governorships.

In June 1982, King Khalid died, and Fahd became king and prime minister in a smooth transition. Another half-brother, Prince Abdullah, Commander of the Saudi National Guard, was named crown prince and first deputy prime minister. King Fahd's brother, Prince Sultan, the minister of defense and aviation, became second deputy prime minister. Under King Fahd, the Saudi economy adjusted to sharply lower oil revenues resulting from declining global oil prices. Saudi Arabia supported neutral shipping in the Gulf during periods of the Iran-Iraq war and aided Iraq's war-strained economy. King Fahd played a key role in bringing about the August 1988 cease-fire between Iraq and Iran and in organizing and strengthening the Gulf Cooperation Council.

As of October 2018, Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Middle East and the 18th largest in the world.Saudi Arabia has the world's second-largest proven petroleum reserves and the country is the largest exporter of petroleum. It has the second highest total estimated value of natural resources, valued at US$34.4 trillion in 2016.Saudi Arabia's command economy is petroleum-based; roughly 63% of budget revenues and 67% of export earnings come from the oil industry. The vast wealth generated by oil revenues was beginning to have an even greater impact on Saudi society. It led to rapid technological modernization, urbanization, mass public education, and the creation of new media. This and the presence of increasingly large numbers of foreign workers greatly affected traditional Saudi norms and values.

Although there was a dramatic change in the social and economic life of the country, political power continued to be monopolized by the royal family leading to discontent among many Saudis who began to look for wider participation in government. Tourism is a key element of Vision 2030, an economic-reform plan meant to wean the kingdom off oil that was unveiled five years ago by Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince. The government expects tourism to be the largest source of new jobs in the private sector, accounting for 10% of both GDP and employment within a decade. "The industry is at the top of our 2030 agenda," says Ahmed al-Khateeb, the tourism minister, who hopes to see 100m local and foreign tourists in ten years' time. The government held its first-ever elections in 2005 and 2011, when Saudis went to the polls to elect municipal councilors. In December 2015, women were allowed to vote and stand as candidates for the first time in municipal council elections, with 19 women winning seats.

King SALMAN bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud ascended to the throne in 2015 and placed the first next-generation prince, MUHAMMAD BIN NAIF bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, in the line of succession as Crown Prince. He designated his son, MUHAMMAD BIN SALMAN bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, as the Deputy Crown Prince. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a coalition of 10 countries in a military campaign to restore the legitimate government of Yemen, which had been ousted by Huthi forces allied with former president ALI ABDULLAH al-Salih. The war in Yemen has drawn international criticism for civilian casualties and its effect on the country's dire humanitarian situation. In December 2015, then Deputy Crown Prince MUHAMMAD BIN SALMAN announced Saudi Arabia would lead a 34-nation Islamic Coalition to fight terrorism . In May 2017, Saudi Arabia inaugurated the Global Center for Combatting Extremist Ideology (also known as "Etidal") as part of its ongoing efforts to counter violent extremism.

In September 2017, King SALMAN issued a royal decree recognizing the right of Saudi women to drive beginning in June 2018. Saudi Arabia saw some protests during the 2011 Arab Spring but not the level of bloodshed seen in protests elsewhere in the region. Shia Muslims in the Eastern Province protested primarily against the detention of political prisoners, endemic discrimination, and Bahraini and Saudi Government actions in Bahrain. Riyadh took a cautious but firm approach by arresting some protesters but releasing most of them quickly and by using its state-sponsored clerics to counter political and Islamist activism. The kingdom spends 8% of its GDP on the military , which places it as the world's third biggest military spender behind the United States and China, and the world's largest arms importer from 2015 to 2019, receiving half of all the US arms exports to the Middle East. According to the BICC, Saudi Arabia is the 28th most militarized country in the world and possesses the second-best military equipment qualitatively in the region, after Israel.

By the late 2010s, there have been continual calls for halting of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, mainly due to alleged war crimes in Yemen and especially following the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's three-fifths of the population live in major cities, which are well organized with relatively integrated transportation networks and most basic services . With the "Saudi First" foreign policy in full swing, these developments drove the government to pour further fuel on the nationalist fire. For instance, Awwad Al-Awwad, minister of media at the time, declared that no person should remain neutral in their media coverage. He was referring to the coverage of the ongoing war in Yemen, but this rhetoric quickly became common currency for the multiple regional and international issues the Kingdom found itself drawn into. Social media accounts now frequently publish hashtags condemning "neutrality".

It aims to embed the nationalist narrative at the grassroots level by urging citizens to voice their support for these top-level aims. Health care in Saudi Arabia is a national health care system in which the government provides free health care services through a number of government agencies. Saudi Arabia has been ranked among the 26 best countries in providing high quality healthcare. The Saudi Ministry of Health is the major government agency entrusted with the provision of preventive, curative, and rehabilitative health care for the Kingdom's population. The Ministry's origins can be traced to 1925, when a number of regional health departments were established, with the first in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The various healthcare institutions were merged to become a ministerial body in 1950.

Abdullah bin Faisal Al Saud was the first health minister and served in the position for three years, with his main role to set up the newly formed Ministry. Saudi Arabia's population is 26,090,555, living in 4,655,127 households with higher concentration in Al-Riyadh, Makkah Al-Mokarramah, and the Eastern Region. One-fourth of the households are in Makkah Al-Mokarrammah while another one-fourth in Al-Riyadh. The proportion of households in own houses is less than half – mostly Saudi households. Households in the Kingdom live in apartments, traditional houses, villas or floor in a villa with differing proportions across regions and between Saudi and non-Saudi.

The major source of electricity is public station followed by private station and private generators. Water source is mainly the public water inside the pipe unit but catchment tank water and well water are used. Three types of sewage system are prevalent in the Kingdom - public sewage, ditch sewage, and private sewage. The purpose of that spat was to show the world Saudi Arabia's intolerance of criticism of its regional policies. The Saudi government is also willing to push back internationally on any external interference in its domestic issues. In August 2018, the Canadian embassy in Riyadh tweeted a call in Arabic urging Saudi Arabia to release women's rights activists.

The Kingdom retaliated, expelling the Canadian ambassador, calling Saudi students home from Canadian universities, stopping flights between the countries, and freezing trade. At home, the nationalist narrative celebrated the Kingdom's fast and resolute action. Adel Al-Jubeir, former Saudi foreign minister and current minister of state for foreign affairs, declared that Saudi Arabia was not to be treated as a "banana republic".

The episode sent a message to other nations, with Canadian interests becoming collateral damage in this. There is a strong foreign policy aspect to Mohammed bin Salman's own activities. The March 2015 Saudi-led invasion of Yemen boosted him, given his position as minister of defence, and prompted the now-traditional outburst of praise for him on social and traditional media. State outlets depicted him as the "architect" of the campaign and the man in charge of "difficult missions". Moreover, the name of the military campaign, "Decisive Storm", was inspired by a quote from none other than King Abdulaziz.

Indeed, just one month after the war in Yemen began, Mohammed bin Salman officially joined the succession ladder with his appointment as deputy crown prince after a second royal shake-up. And Khalid bin Salman, one of his younger brothers, was one of the first to launch airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. From that point onwards, the newly minted nationalist narrative accelerated the rise of Mohammed bin Salman, promoting him from an unknown son of the new king to the most well-known royal figure.

In April 2016, support for him reached its pinnacle when he unveiled his cornerstone strategy for economic diversification, Vision 2030. This became the symbol of Mohammed bin Salman's domestic ambitions and his bid to address young people's concerns about the sustainability of an oil-dependent economy. Indeed, in implementing the vision, he has made sure to constantly underline the importance of young people, identifying them as the real vehicle for change. Overall, the leadership has broken from the old social contract by emphasising that Saudi Arabia has now entered a new era in which citizens must contribute to the good of the country, as opposed to simply receiving benefits as their forebears did. Healthcare in Saudi Arabia currently is provided free of charge to all Saudi citizens and expatriates working in the public sector, primarily through the Ministry of Health and augmented by other governmental health facilities. The government requires that expatriates working in the private sectors have some level of healthcare coverage paid by their employers.

Healthcare in Saudi Arabia has been funded primarily by public (75%) or out-of-pocket expenditures (about 25%). What has been distinctive has been the low level of private insurance involved in the provision of healthcare. Almost all of the private expenditures have been out-of-pocket payments for services in private hospitals and clinics.

Governmental funding is allocated through annual budgets to individual ministries and programs. Royal decrees may be issued for allocations of additional funding for special health programs and projects. The Saudi government requires all citizens to be Muslim, and most of the population adheres to Wahhabism. The Shia population is estimated at around 15 percent, primarily in the eastern provinces, and larger cities. The country allows Christians and Hindus to enter the country as temporary workers, but does not allow them to practice their faiths. The public practice of any religion other than Islam, the presence of churches, and the possession of non-Islamic religious materials is not allowed.

The U.S. State Department suggests that there are 500,000 to one million people who adhere to the Catholic faith. Saudi Arabia's relations with the United States were strained after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in which 15 of the suicide bombers were Saudi citizens. In May 2003, a terrorist organization directly affiliated with al-Qaida launched a violent campaign of terror in Saudi Arabia. On May 12, suicide bombers killed 35 people, including nine Americans, in attacks at three housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh. On November 8, 2003 terrorists attacked another compound housing foreign workers from mainly Arab countries.

At least 18 people, including 5 children died in this attack, and more than 100 were injured. On May 1, 2004 terrorists killed two Americans in the Yanbu oil facility in the western part of the country. On May 29, 2004 terrorists killed one American and wounded several others in attacks on an official building and housing compound in al-Khobar in the Eastern Province.

On June 9 and June 12, 2004 terrorists killed Americans Robert Jacobs and Kenneth Scroggs. On June 18, 2004 terrorists kidnapped and beheaded American Paul Johnson. Terrorists also targeted and killed other foreign nationalities during this time. The Basic Law adopted in 1992 declared that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by the sons and grandsons of King Abd Al Aziz Al Saud, and that the Holy Qur'an is the constitution of the country, which is governed on the basis of Islamic law (Shari'a). There are no political parties or national elections; however, the country held its first municipal elections in 2005.