Interesting piece from the UAE’s Khaleej Times about Saudi governmental efforts to get facts about the conditions of Saudi society. As the piece notes in its comments about an earlier survey conducted in Madinah, the picture is not as rosy as many, including many Saudis, would think. As I’ve noted before, Saudi Arabia is in many important ways still a developing country with the kinds and scope of problems that face other developing countries. It differs importantly in that there is money available to fix at least some of the problems, but it’s critical that the government understand just what those problems are. This survey is an important step on that road. Do read the whole article.

UN-backed survey to focus on women in Jeddah region
Habib Shaikh

JEDDAH — An UN-supported survey is to be carried out focusing on women in Jeddah’s impoverished districts.

Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Miteb has approved the survey which aims to improve the condition of Jeddah’s poor, especially women.

According to Dr Mohammed Abdussalam, supervisor of the Urban Observatory in Jeddah and adviser to Jeddah Mayor Adel Fakieh, the efforts will be supported by five government and private agencies.

The study will also include the city’s environment in order to find out the major pollutants and make proposals to protect the environment.

Mobile monitoring stations will be established to measure the rate of pollution. About 60 trained women graduates of King Abdul Aziz University and Dar Al-Hekma College will take part in the survey. Abdussalam said that female surveyors were participating for the first time in the social service programme, which targets nearly 20,000 families.

The survey is also meant to understand the conditions of Jeddah’s population.

Later, a comparative study with other cities at national and international levels will be made in order to formulate plans to improve the overall condition of the people.

Jeddah is the second city in the Kingdom to carry out an urban observatory survey. A similar survey in Madinah showed that 14.2 per cent of families in the region lived below the poverty line. The survey also indicated that Madinah had one of the highest unemployment rates in the Kingdom with the number of unemployed men at 16.7 per cent and women 26.8 per cent. It also noted that 55.9 pe rcent of people in the region live in rented buildings while 42.4 per cent live in houses they own….