[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Survey Reveals Alarming Facts of Life in Makkah

From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:26:47 +0100

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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=60820&d=22&m=3&y=2005&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom

Tuesday, 22, March, 2005 (11, Safar, 1426)

Survey Reveals Alarming Facts of Life in Makkah
Maha Akeel, Arab News

JEDDAH, 22 March 2005 - A new study on the social and economic
characteristics of Makkah residents reveals some surprising and alarming facts
of life in the holy city.

According to the study conducted by Makkah Development Authority, the
average monthly spending of a family in Makkah is SR3,000 and for an individual
the average is SR700. Only 9.5 percent of the families spend an average SR6,000
a month, while 55 percent spend less than SR3,000 and 35.2 percent between
SR3,000 and SR6,000.

The study also found that the work force in Makkah is about 328,200 (the
study did not indicate if this included women), of which 73.4 percent are
employed and 26.6 percent are unemployed, making the number of unemployed in
Makkah alone to be 87,301. Back in January, Minister of Labor Dr. Ghazi
Al-Gosaibi said that the number of actual job seekers in the Kingdom is less
than 180,500, and the latest figures by the General Statistics Department put
the number of jobless at 300,000, or 9.6 percent of the total Saudi work force
are unemployed.

Economic experts find that if the sample surveyed, which is 5 percent of
Makkah's residents, is representative of the city's population then the results
are disturbing.

"These are very negative results. If the average monthly spending of a
family is SR3,000, it indicates that the income level of most people in Makkah
is very low which affects their saving ability, their purchasing power and
their demand for services which means they will not benefit from any economic
resurgence," said Dr. Yaseen Al-Jifri, dean of Prince Sultan College for
Tourism and Administration.

The study also found that 70 percent of Makkah residents are financially
dependent on the breadwinners, 66 percent of those dependants are minors and 4
percent elderly. "This is normal because of our demographic structure where
more than half of our population are young, but this means that there is a
financial burden on the income earners," Dr. Al-Jifri told Arab News.

The study indicated that the city's economy depends largely on services
where 91.4 percent of the labor force is involved in the services sector. Again
Dr. Al-Jifri said this is expected because Makkah depends on Haj and Umrah for
its revenue. However, he was surprised that with such demand for services there
is still a high rate of unemployment. This might be explained by the presence
of expatriates. The study showed that 25 percent of Makkah residents are
expatriates with the highest non-Saudi community being Yemenis who make up 19
percent of the expatriates.

Dr. Al-Jifri had other observations as well about the study. "With a
population of 1.5 million in Makkah, a work force of 328,200 is low. Also, the
study seems to show that poverty is very high in Makkah and I don't think
that's accurate, and it seems to have focused more on the low income sector of
society," he said.

The study showed that 23.4 percent of the residents have elementary
school education and 40 percent have a high school degree.

Other findings by the study include that 30 percent of Makkah residents
are deprived of sewerage services, while 25 percent are not connected to the
general water system.

The study showed that the divorce rate for every 1,000 people is 8.6,
which is the highest in the Kingdom. And 31 percent of men and women in the
marital age are single. The study concluded with a few important
recommendations including giving priority to solving the water problem,
developing the sewerage system, expanding the capacity of the holy mosque by at
least 35 percent to accommodate the expected increase in pilgrims and
increasing educational programs to end illiteracy.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Survey Reveals Alarming Facts of Life in Makkah

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