Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil producer. The saying of Saudi Arabia is that everybody drive around in Jaguars and spend their holidays at the five star hotels in other gulf countries. Anyway, there are lot of expensive cars are available in Saudi Streets. Don't be jealous. It is because of the low fuel rate in Saudi Arabia and anyone is craze to use a expensive car which is having higher fuel consumption.  Saudi Arabia is known to be one of the richest countries in the world. But, poverty is exists in Saudi Arabia too. Recently , talking about poverty has become very fashionable especially during this recession period. I have read some articles on poverty in America and have seen the picture of beggars in the street. Also, the illiterate rate is also very high in America. It is really surprising that one out of seven American can't read and write. Poverty is not only existing in third world countries, but also existing in developed world like Europe and America.  Poverty can't be eradicated with the support from the government alone. Need an honest approach towards the poverty from the individuals those who are suffering and they should ask themselves where is the problem and why they can't earn for their basic needs. There should be more awareness campaigns from the Government about literacy and poverty. Just financial help will not solve the problem. Even the illiterate people can be trained to do some jobs. In order to do that some job oriented programs for the illiterate personnel to be planned. As of my knowledge, there are several job vacancies are available in Saudi Arabia, but the problem is that the persons are not ready to do it or many of them are not qualified to do the job. Saudis represent only 32% of the total workforce in Saudi Arabia. The rest of the jobs are doing by the expatriates. It means 68% of the workforce in Saudi Arabia are foreigners.

Today the Saudi newspapers highlighted the massive plan to fight poverty in Saudi Arabia.  By the end of this year Saudi authorities trying to reduce the poverty rate to 13.3%. Now 18.9 percent of the population spend less than 3800 SR per month for a family with 6-8 members. Also, there are extremely poor families are 1.63 percent those are not meeting the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing, housing, education and health. Saudi authorities hope the poverty rate could be further reduced to 2.2 percent by 2020. According to Abdullah Al-Moaiqel, secretary general of the National Strategy to Combat Poverty, said a number of programs have already been introduced to fight poverty across the Kingdom. According to the study, Jizan province has the largest number of poor people in country (45 %) while Qassim has the lowest (8%). About 44 % of Saudis live in rented apartments, and 30 % in unsuitable housing. The government has set up a housing authority to address the housing problem of Saudis.

That is the story of Saudi Citizens. What about the Expatriates in Saudi Arabia. A big number of expatriates (It seems to be huge percentage..I don't know the exact figure) from Asian countries are working here in Saudi Arabia for  less than SR 400 (USD 106) and approximately 50% of the salary to be spent for their food. If we consider the figure of these expatriates in the poverty level, the percentage of poverty in Saudi Arabia will be one of the highest in the world. Let us check the status  of these expatriates families in their countries. They are living for just SR 200 in a month. Saudi citizens extreme level poverty is calculated based on SR 1700 (USD 453) monthly income per family. So, the expatriates poverty level is 8 time extreme or something else. Recently Saudi Government is insisted to do health insurance for the expatriates and by law the expatriate resident permit cannot be renewed without health insurance. But majority of the private companies are waiting and expecting that this rule will be cancelled soon. Otherwise, they are making the insurance for the persons those resident permit is near to expire. The rules to be complied. On the contrary, the aim of the rule will not be met.

Let me end this post with a news from Jeddah. It is  from today's newspaper:  Five young men who had posed as doctors to “examine” women patients, were sentenced to 6 months in prison and fined SR100,000 each. A medical violations committee handed down the sentence. The young men would wear white coats, hang a stethoscope around the neck and slip into different hospitals here during visiting hours, said Dr. Sami Badawood, director of the Jeddah Health Affairs. They got away with it a few times until security guards noticed no official badge on their coats, confronted them, and handed them over to the police