Arabic in Saudi Arabia

Speakers

30,888,215

Type

Location

Arabic in Saudi Arabia

Country

Information available

1. Basics

Names

Arabic in Saudi Arabia

Size

30,888,215

2. Status

Status

  • Official country wide language
  • Official regional language
  • Official minority language
  • Recognised community language
  • Unrecognised community language
National language
Yes
Indigenous language
Yes
Comments
Arabic is the official and national language.

3. State

Documentation: materials

Written

  • Extended corpora
  • Annotated corpora
  • Corpus/corpora
  • Materials/corpus
  • Some materials
  • No materials
Digital
Yes

divider

Video

  • Extended corpora
  • Annotated corpora
  • Corpus/corpora
  • Materials/corpus
  • Some materials
  • No materials
Digital
Yes

divider

Audio

  • Extended corpora
  • Annotated corpora
  • Corpus/corpora
  • Materials/corpus
  • Some materials
  • No materials
Digital
Yes

divider

Documentation: descriptions

  • Elaborated dictionaries, grammars, statistical language models, etc.
  • Dictionaries and grammars
  • Dictionary and grammar
  • Glossary and descriptions
  • Few descriptions
  • No descriptions
Digital
Yes

Standardization

  • Modern standard language
  • Young standard language
  • Standardised language
  • Quasi-standard language
  • Semi-standardised language
  • Un-standardised language

Graphisation & script encoding

  • Standardised writing system with full script encoding
  • Conventionalised writing system with partial script encoding
  • Consistent writing system with no script encoding
  • Unsystematic writing system(s)
  • Limited written use
  • No written use

4. Users

Geographical distribution

  • Users live and dominate in all regions of the country
  • Users live in one [state/...] of the country
  • Users live in a cross-border region [state/...] of the country
  • Users live in separated [states/...] of the country
  • Users live dispersed across one [state/...] of the country
  • Users live scattered all over the country

Size / Number of users

Number of users

30888215
Source
The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics
Year
2023

Users within total population

96.00000
More than 50% use the language

PROPORTION

96
Source
The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics
Year
2023

Users within the reference community

100 % use the language
Actual percentage
100
Source
The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics
Year
2020

Age distribution of users

827,375
3
percentage of members of older generations (> 65)
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023

Age distribution of users

22,489,426
73
percentage of members of middle generations (15-65)
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023

Age distribution of users

7,571,414
24
percentage of members of young generations (< 15)
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023

Generational use

100
100
All generations
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2020

Educational attainment

51
53
8,339,818
Primary education
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023
24
24
6,795,407
Lower secondary education
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023
25
23
6,486,524
Higher secondary education
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023

Occupational qualifications

0
0
Elementary occupations
Comments

There is no equivalent data. Please see the General Authority for Statistics, Labour Market Statistics Q4 2020, https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/814 . Almost 100% Saudi citizens use Arabic in their daily lives.

Language competence

61
38
30,888,215
Understand all, speak/sign fluently
Comments

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023

Literacy of users

100
100
More than 50% of users with literacy in the language
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2020

Digital use

45
55
More than 50% digital users of the language
Actual percentage
99
Source

The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Statistics

Year
2023
Comments

•Social media report in Saudi Arabia for the year 2023 :
- Number of social media users in Saudi Arabia: approximately (29,100) million users
of the YouTube platform, approximately (28.4) million users of the WhatsApp
platform, approximately (21.15) million users of the Snapchat platform .
- Twitter platform: The Kingdom is the first in the Arab world to use the Twitter
platform in terms of the number of users, amounting to (15.50) million users. There
are approximately (7.1) million Twitter users in Arabic, with a percentage of (60%)
males and 40% females.
- Facebook platform: It ranks

5. Use

Socio-geographic dimension

Geographic scope
  • International
  • Supranational
  • Cross-border (states)
  • State-wide
  • Supra-regional cross-border
  • Supra-regional
  • Regional cross-border
  • Regional
  • Local
Source



Comments
Arabic is used in many countries in the world as an official and a national language.

Economic dimension

Economic scope
  • Quinary sector
  • Quaternary sector
  • Tertiary sector
  • Secondary sector
  • Primary sector
  • Language not used
  • Quinary sector
  • Quaternary sector
  • Tertiary sector
  • Secondary sector
  • Primary sector
  • Language not used
  • Quinary sector
  • Quaternary sector
  • Tertiary sector
  • Secondary sector
  • Primary sector
  • Language not used
  • Quinary sector
  • Quaternary sector
  • Tertiary sector
  • Secondary sector
  • Primary sector
  • Language not used
  • Quinary sector
  • Quaternary sector
  • Tertiary sector
  • Secondary sector
  • Primary sector
  • Language not used

Functional dimension

Functional scope
  • Public domains
  • Everyday domains
  • Private domains
Nature
equal
Functional scope
  • Public domains
  • Everyday domains
  • Private domains
Nature
equal
Functional scope
  • Public domains
  • Everyday domains
  • Private domains
Nature
equal

Functional use in administration

Language use in administration
  • International level
  • National level
  • Regional level
  • Local level
  • Auxiliary use
  • No use

Types of language use

  • signed / spoken use
  • written use
  • digital use

Language is used for

  • Census data
  • Census surveys
  • Election processes
  • Topographical signs
Comments
Arabic is used at all the levels of education. Besides, courses are provided bout its grammar, phonetics, semantics, poetry... etc.

Ethnoculture

  • No use
  • Informal learning
  • Skills and knowledge
  • Performing arts
  • Social practices
  • Customary law
  • Traditional medicine
  • Knowledge and practices
  • Traditions and expressions

Formal Education

Tertiary level
Type of language use in education
  • Medium of instruction
  • Immersion teaching
  • Teaching subject
  • Occasionally used
  • Symbolically used
Comments
Arabic is used at all the levels of education. Besides, courses are provided bout its grammar, phonetics, semantics, poetry... etc.
Higher secondary level
Type of language use in education
  • Medium of instruction
  • Immersion teaching
  • Teaching subject
  • Occasionally used
  • Symbolically used
Comments
Arabic is used at all the levels of education. Besides, courses are provided bout its grammar, phonetics, semantics, poetry... etc.



Lower secondary level
Type of language use in education
  • Medium of instruction
  • Immersion teaching
  • Teaching subject
  • Occasionally used
  • Symbolically used
Primary level
Type of language use in education
  • Medium of instruction
  • Immersion teaching
  • Teaching subject
  • Occasionally used
  • Symbolically used
Early childhood education
Type of language use in education
  • Medium of instruction
  • Immersion teaching
  • Teaching subject
  • Occasionally used
  • Symbolically used

Public healthcare

  • Language not used
  • Translations
  • Healthcare information
  • Nursing care (incl. elderly)
  • Doctor-patient communication
  • Generally used

Information, communication and cultural production

  • Information services
  • Broadcasting
  • Video, film
  • Sound/music recording
  • Publishing activities
  • Language not used

Digital sphere

  • Language not used
  • Texting and messaging
  • Social media
  • Blogs, web pages, e-books
  • Edutainment products and services
  • Social media have a localized interface
  • Localized web search and e-commerce services
  • Localized operating systems
  • Machine translation
  • Top level domain name

Legal system

Language use in the legal system
  • General use
  • Legal transactions
  • Court proceedings
  • Written submissions
  • Spoken/signed testimonies
  • Language not used

Areas of law the language is used

  • Criminal law
  • Civil law
  • Administrative law

Geographical scope of legal language use

  • Local
  • Regional
  • National
  • International

Completion