Survey on access and use of ICT by households and individuals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The first survey on access and use of ICT by households and individuals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been recently published, referring to 2017.

https://www.stats.gov.sa/sites/default/files/ict_access_and_usage_by_households_and_individuals_survey_2017en_0.pdf

DevStat provided technical assistance to the Statistical Office of Saudi Arabia, to design the survey according to the standards of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) manual, of which the 2^nd edition was prepared by José Cervera, CEO of DevStat, in 2014 (https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-ITCMEAS-2014-PDF-E.pdf). The survey interviewed 24.000 households and shows that the Kingdom’s population has access to Internet in a similar proportion than European countries (76% to 94% depending on regions), with a significant difference between Saudis and non-Saudis, and between men and women. As in many quickly developing countries, the connection is more frequent through smartphones. DevStat’s work on ICT indicators has reached a global level, having provided technical assistance to Ethiopia, China, Kazakhstan, Oman, Qatar, as well as in regional trainings in French speaking African countries, English speaking Caribbean countries, Latin America and the Arab region.