Saudi Arabia: Workers employed in the public and private sectors, by country of citizenship (2021)

Country of citizenship Civil service Private sector TOTAL
Saudi Arabia 1,207,858 1,921,395 3,129,253
Algeria 261 1,717 1,978
Bahrain 5 4 9
Egypt 12,516 721,573 734,089
Iraq 9 1,281 1,290
Jordan 1,687 64,664 66,351
Kuwait 6 9 15
Lebanon 50 27,205 27,255
Libya 4 19 23
Mauritania 24 1,040 1,064
Morocco 83 15,034 15,117
Oman 1 7 8
Palestine 111 10,267 10,378
Pal. with Jordanian travel documents 29 29
Pal. with Syrian travel documents 969 969
Pal. with Iraqi travel documents 5 5
Pal. with Lebanese travel documents 1,265 1,265
Pal. with Egyptian travel documents 19,478 19,478
Qatar 3 3
Sudan 9,050 327,195 336,245
Syria 1,795 141,044 142,839
Tunisia 1,627 10,314 11,941
UAE 1 4 5
Yemen 630 738,116 738,746
Tribes 29 29
Arab countries 27,860 2,081,271 2,109,131
Afghanistan 7 65,863 65,870
Azerbaidjan 3 232 235
Bangladesh 397 1,349,451 1,349,848
Brunei 1 6 7
Cambodia 7 7
China 22 13,548 13,570
Hong Kong 1 1
India 7,827 1,225,852 1,233,679
Indonesia 189 60,937 61,126
Iran 5 5
Japan 2 257 259
Kazakhstan 1 243 244
Kirgyzstan 76 76
Laos 12 12
Malaysia 118 938 1,056
Maldives 3 3
Myanmar 4,090 4,090
Myanmar/ holder of a Pakistani passport 5,050 5,050
Myanmar/ holder of a Bangladeshi passport 4,494 4,494
Myanmar/ resident 15,418 15,418
Nepal 2 284,794 284,796
Pakistan 2,937 950,795 953,732
Philippines 5,572 315,822 321,394
Singapore 2 128 130
South Korea 12 868 880
Sri Lanka 6 40,435 40,441
Taiwan 160 160
Tajikistan 67 67
Thailand 1 798 799
Turkey 33 22,850 22,883
Turkmenistan 33 33
Uzbekistan 5 271 276
Vietnam 516 516
Asian countries 17,137 4,364,020 4,381,157
Angola 2 2
Benin 20 20
Botswana 4 4
Burkina Faso 445 445
Burundi 59 59
Cabo Verde 2 2
Cameroon 4 221 225
Central Africa 1 1
Chad 2 5,337 5,339
Comoros 2 39 41
Congo 11 11
Djibouti 3 473 476
Equatorial Guinea 1 1
Eritrea 1 13,343 13,344
Ethiopia 6 18,044 18,050
Gabon 3 3
Gambia 25 25
Ghana 6 6,378 6,384
Guinea 1 140 141
Guinea Bissau 2 2
Ivory Coast 3 145 148
Kenya 5 20,871 20,876
Liberia 8 8
Madagascar 5 5
Malawi 6 6
Mali 2 3,244 3,246
Mauritius 18 18
Mozambique 43 43
Namibia 2 2
Niger 2,058 2,058
Nigeria 280 7,775 8,055
Rwanda 90 90
Senegal 3 1,380 1,383
Seychelles 2 2
Sierra Leone 3 23 26
Somalia 22 10,846 10,868
South Africa 24 2,431 2,455
South-Sudan 15 15
Swaziland 1 1
Tanzania 2 542 544
Togo 1 12 13
Uganda 2 26,406 26,408
Zambia 139 139
Zimbabwe 216 216
SS African countries 372 120,828 121,200
Albania 58 58
Armenia 18 18
Austria 97 97
Belarus 24 24
Belgium 4 161 165
Bosnia 3 85 88
Bulgaria 32 32
Croatia 161 161
Cyprus 81 81
Czech Republic 1 57 58
Denmark 5 65 70
Estonia 7 7
Finland 1 31 32
France 49 1,594 1,643
Georgia 43 43
Germany 30 614 644
Greece 19 500 519
Hungary 1 44 45
Iceland 1 1
Ireland 13 539 552
Italy 6 828 834
Kosovo 9 9
Latvia 9 9
Lithuania 19 19
Luxembourg 3 3
Macedonia 20 20
Malta 11 11
Moldavia 3 3
Netherlands 4 338 342
Norway 3 37 40
Poland 1 191 192
Portugal 286 286
Romania 9 337 346
Russia 34 304 338
Serbia and Montenegro 74 74
Slovakia 38 38
Slovenia 7 7
Spain 3 845 848
Sweden 6 148 154
Switzerland 89 89
UK 203 8,022 8,225
Ukraine 2 365 367
Europe 397 16,195 16,592
Argentina 3 69 72
Belize 9 9
Bolivia 10 10
Brazil 254 254
Canada 202 3,450 3,652
Chile 32 32
Colombia 1 270 271
Costa Rica 10 10
Cuba 198 6 204
Dominica 47 47
Dominican Republic 6 6
Ecuador 27 27
Guatemala 7 7
Haiti 1 1
Honduras 7 7
Jamaica 85 85
Mexico 169 169
Nicaragua 1 1
Panama 18 18
Peru 43 43
San Salvador 7 7
Surinam 3 3
Trinidad and Tobago 52 52
Uruguay 3 3
USA 171 5,956 6,127
Venezuela 1 411 412
Other 87 87
Americas 576 11,040 11,616
Australia 45 954 999
New Zealand 7 145 152
Oceania 52 1,102 1,154
Residents 206 206
Unspecified 61 15 76
Total foreign workers 46,455 6,594,677 6,641,132
Total workers 1,254,313 8,516,072 9,770,385

Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD)

ANNEXED NOTE

  1. Technical Notes and Definitions

Data do not include employees in the security and military sectors.

No metadata available. The administrative records used as a source of data is unmentioned.

The original dataset’s title (“Manpower in the Public sector during year 2020”), could be misleading

When compared to the results of GAStat Labour Market Statistics for Q4 of 2021, the totals of foreign workers

in the “public” sector (46,455) were closer to the LFS’s figures of foreign workers in the Civil Service (46,317),

than to the figures of foreign workers in the government sector (98,880).

It is thus likely that MHRSD’s figures of workers in the “Public” sector are referring to Civil service workers,

hence the heading of column B.

The foreign workers subscribing to the Social Insurance (GOSI) and working for the public sector are thus

not included in the figure of workers (Saudis and non-Saudis) (respectively, 330,737 Saudi and 116,318 non-Saudi workers

according to LFS Q4 2021).

The category of “resident” presumably refers to de facto refugee populations granted residency permits in Saudi

Arabia, such as some Rohingya refugees from Myanmar

(https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2017/01/25/Over-190-000-Myanmar-nationals-granted-Saudi-residency).

  1. Institution which provides data

Saudi Arabia: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD)

  1. Data availability

Datasets: “Manpower in the Public sector during year 2021” (individual data)

(https://data.gov.sa/Data/ar/dataset/government-sector-employees-2021)

and “Statistics of establishments and workers in the private sector for the year 2021” .

(https://data.gov.sa/Data/ar/dataset/statistics-of-establishments-and-workers-in-the-private-sector-2021).

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD), in:

MHRSD “Open data” section (https://data.gov.sa/Data/en/organization/hrsdgov?page=2).

or: Saudi government Open Data Portal – DATA.GOV.SA, Labor data.

Datasets are in Arabic only.

Last date of access: March 2022.