Manama: Saudi citizens make up 62.69 per cent of the 32,552,336 people who live in Saudi Arabia, official figures indicate.

The 2017 figures released by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) show that the total population increased by 2.52 per cent over 2016 when the kingdom was home to 31,742,308 Saudis and foreigners.

Males made up 57.48 per cent of the total population in 2017 while females constituted the remaining 42.52 per cent. The presence of thousands of single foreign men working in the kingdom explains the gap in the gender numbers. In 2016, men were 57.44 per cent and women 42.56 per cent.

The number of Saudi nationals in 2017 was 20,408,362, an increase of 343,392 over 2016 when they were 20,064,970.

Men slightly outnumbered women, accounting for 50.94 per cent of the Saudi population. The figures had marginally changed from 2016 when men constituted 50.96 per cent and women 49.04 per cent of the local population.

Saudi Arabia is the largest and most populous country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an alliance that also comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE.

Most of the foreigners living in Saudi Arabia are nationals from Asian and Arab countries working mainly in the domestic and private sectors.

The Market Labour bulletin said the authorities had issued 509,180 work visas in the third quarter of 2017.

According to the figures, 37.8 per cent were for the domestic sector, 39.9 per cent for the private sector and 22.3 per cent for the public sector.