40 Interesting Facts About Saudi Arabia

1. Saudi Arabia tore down a centuries-old Turkish fortress, at one time used to protect Mecca and the Kaaba from invaders and bandits, to build a Megahotel complex.

2. The Queen of England once “terrorized” Saudi Arabia’s King by driving him around. In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive.

3. In 2002, a fire at a girls’ school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia killed fifteen girls. It has been strongly suggested that their deaths occurred due to the involvement of the “religious police,” who prevented them from leaving the building because the girls were not wearing correct Islamic dress. 

4. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world without a river.

5. Saudi Arabia is working to reverse decades of favoring religious over scientific studies in schools and universities. The country is pouring billions into improving science curricula, endowing new research-oriented universities and establishing scientific agencies. 
6. Dust/dirt devils are called “djin” meaning “genie” or “devil” in Saudi Arabia. This is where the mythical genie came from and why genies are typically depicted without legs.

7. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain recently made a joint bid to host the Olympics with the men’s’ events in Saudi Arabia and the women’s’ events in Bahrain as women are not allowed to play sports in Saudi Arabia. The IOC vetoed the bid.

8. 350 million years ago, there existed a 20-foot tall mushroom in Saudi Arabia. It was likely the largest living thing on dry land at that time.

9. Venezuela has more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia but produces less than a forth of what Saudi produces per year.

10. Saudi Arabia has used up all its groundwater and will need to import all its food.
11. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is the first mixed-gender university campus in Saudi Arabia. The religious police do not operate on-site, and women are allowed to mix freely with men and to drive on campus, and they are not required to wear veils.

12. Saudi Arabia still occasionally sentences people to crucifixion.

13. Saudi Arabia purchased a large chunk of land in Arizona just to grow hay and ship it back to their dairy farms. 

14. Saudi Arabia promotes the practice of marriage between close relatives which has produced a high level of several genetic disorder including thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, spinal muscular atrophy, deafness, and muteness.

15. A man in Saudi Arabia installed a fridge on the street and stocks it with free food for the homeless people in his neighborhood.
16. The Jeddah Tower is being constructed in Saudi Arabia. It will take the title of world’s tallest building from the Burj Khalifa and they were both designed by the same American architect.

17. There is a square colloquially known as Chop Chop Square in Saudi Arabia. The square has built in drains for the executions they have every Friday after prayer.

18. Saudi Arabia developed robotic camel jockeys because too many 4yo slave boys were dying. Child slave jockeys were outlawed in 2005.

19. The founder of modern Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud, had 45 sons, and almost 100 children total. The next king will be the first king that isn’t Ibn Saud’s direct son.

20. The Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Gameboy Color is banned in Saudi Arabia because “it promotes Zionism”.

21. Islamic schools, “Maddrassas,” funded largely by Saudi Arabia, provide the only viable means for most Pakistani boys to get an education, and in many regions outnumber the state-run schools.

22. Saudi Arabia has a Quran Belt.

23. Saudi Arabia imports sand and camels from Australia.

24. Movie theaters have been banned in Saudi Arabia since the 1980s.

25. The flag of Saudi Arabia is never flown at half-mast as a sign of mourning, as lowering it is considered blasphemous.

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