Transport and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia
Our listing of the primary kinds of transport compares the infrastructure of Saudi Arabia with the average of all countries in Asia. Overall, the main traffic and transport routes are well developed and in comparatively good condition.In terms of the length of its rail network, Saudi Arabia ranks 72nd in the world with 0.16 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 5,410 kilometers long. Passenger traffic reached 134.65 million passenger-kilometers in 2018.
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Back to overview: Saudi Arabia
Road traffic
The network of roads and highways has a total length of 221,372 km. For each of the country's 34.81 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 6.36 meters. This puts Saudi Arabia in 90th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note the country's population density, which is very low at around 16 inhabitants per km². Like this, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.With an average of 9386 traffic fatalities per year (2012 - 2019), road traffic in Saudi Arabia is considered quite dangerous. This corresponds to around 4.3 accident fatalities per 29.1 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 5.9 in the European Union as a whole and 17.1 worldwide.
In Saudi Arabia, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.
Saudi Arabia | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 221,400 km | 6,358.73 km | 102.98 m |
| Railroads | 5,400 km | 155.40 km | 2.52 m |
| Waterways | 0 km | 0.00 km | 0.00 m |
| Commercial harbors | 392 | 11.26 | 0.000 |
| Airports | 214 | 6.15 | 0.100 |
Asia | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 14,699,500 km | 3,186.29 km | 459.66 m |
| Railroads | 280,000 km | 60.70 km | 8.76 m |
| Waterways | 260,300 km | 56.42 km | 8.14 m |
| Commercial harbors | 46,054 | 9.98 | 0.001 |
| Airports | 4,349 | 0.94 | 0.000 |
Data sources used
• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)
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