9 interesting facts about Saudi Arabia
- The first university in Saudi Arabia was founded in 1957.
- Extreme heat and aridity are characteristic of most of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the few places in the world where summer temperatures above 50 °C (122 °F) have been recorded, with 51.1 °C (124 °F) being the highest temperature ever recorded in Saudi Arabia at Dhahran in 1956.
- Saudi Arabia is keeper of Islam’s most sacred cities: Mecca, where the Prophet Muhammad received the word of Allah.
- The Arab calendar is a lunar calendar. The cycle of the moon’s phases takes a little over 29 1/2 days and therefore in an Arab calendar a lunar year contains 354 days and some hours.
- Saudi Arabia is the 14th largest country on earth.
- 75 % of Saudi Arabia population is younger than 35 years old.
- The largest city in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh (pop. 4,193,000), is the 69th largest city on earth by population.
- More than half the area of Saudi Arabia is desert.
- Saudi Arabia exports more oil than any other nation and holds 25 percent of the world’s proven reserves.
