Saudi National Day 2024: GCC Statistical Center Recognizes Kingdom’s Achievements
In celebration of the 94th Saudi National Day, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Statistical Center commended the Kingdom’s efforts over the past decades, which have led to great accomplishments across all fields.
On this occasion, the GCC Statistical Center highlighted key statistics that reflect Saudi Arabia’s successes in economic, social, and international competitiveness fields, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Significant Progress
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has made major strides towards realizing its ambitious plans to diversify its economic revenues away from oil and transform the Kingdom into a developed and more prosperous nation.
These transformative plans are key part of Vision 2030, which aims to capitalize on Saudi Arabia’s resources and opportunities to establish the Kingdom’s position among the world’s most advanced nations.
Thanks to its leadership’s aspirations and tireless efforts, Saudi Arabia has made significant milestones in achieving Vision 2030 objectives.
Economic Diversification
Saudi Arabia is giving unwavering support to the non-oil sectors, as part of its economic diversification plans. As a result, the non-oil activities contribution to the GDP surged to 68.4% in 2023, according to the GCC Statistical Center.
Meanwhile, commercial banks assets reached $1 trillion in 2023, increasing from $965.6bn in 2022 with a 9.3% growth rate. Moreover, the market value of the Saudi stock exchange reached $3 trillion in 2023.
Tourism Achievements
The Saudi tourism sector is a key pillar of the economic diversification plans under Vision 2030, as it plays a pivotal role in diversifying income sources and creating jobs. Hence, the Kingdom has given special attention to tourism development.
In 2023, Saudi Arabia welcomed 30.1 million tourists, compared to 18.3 million tourists in 2022, marking a 65.0% growth rate.
Furthermore, tourist spending recorded a significant increase in 2023, with $40.6bn, compared to $29.7bn in 2022. This marks a 36.6% increase, according to the GCC Statistical Center.
Global Competitiveness
The GCC Statistical Center noted that the Kingdom has made significant progress in enhancing its global competitiveness, by advancing in various prestigious international indexes.
According to the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2024, Saudi Arabia ranked first in several indexes, including the Global Cybersecurity Index, the Internet Users Index, the Long-Term Unemployment Growth Index, the Social Cohesion Index, and the Long-Term Labor Market Growth Index.
In entrepreneurship, the Kingdom also secured the first place in several global indexes. These include ease of starting a business and the availability of good opportunities to start a business, as per the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2023/2024 Global Report.
Education Sector
The Saudi education sector has experienced a tangible progress across all levels. The number of students recorded a 5.3% growth rate over the past four years, according to the GCC Statistical Center.
During the 2022/2023 academic year, the number of students increased to 6.1 million, compared to 5.8 million students in the academic year 2018/2019.
