🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Politics - Governance, Freedom & Democracy

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🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia SA / SAU #12

Nomad Score 56.0

Cities 19

Region Arab League, G20, BRICS, Middle East, Arab World, Silk Road, OPEC, Asia, Asia, Western Asia

Currency SAR

📊 GOVERNANCE AT A GLANCE

Government Unitary Islamic absolute monarchy

UN Member Yes

Independent Yes

CPI Score (2026) 57/100

Press Freedom (2025) 27.9/100 #162

Electoral Democracy (2025) 0.016

HDI 0.900

Regional Blocs AL

🏛 GOVERNMENT & LEADERS

Government Type Unitary Islamic absolute monarchy

Title	Name
King of Saudi Arabia	Salman of Saudi Arabia
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia	Mohammed bin Salman

💰 CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX

CPI Score (2026) 57 / 100

Interpretation Moderate corruption

Source: Transparency International / Corruption Insights API. Higher scores = less corruption.

📰 PRESS FREEDOM INDEX

Overall Score (2025) 27.9 / 100

Global Rank #162 / 180

Rank Change +4 vs previous year

RSF Zone MENA

Political #158 23.8

Economic #86 42.3

Legal #167 21.4

Social #168 28.5

Safety #169 23.7

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Higher scores = better press freedom.

📊 PRESS FREEDOM DIMENSIONS

Five dimensions of press freedom tracked over time. Higher = better.

🗳 DEMOCRACY INDEX

Electoral (2025) 0.016

Liberal 0.047

Participatory 0.026

Deliberative 0.072

Egalitarian 0.113

Source: V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy), CC-BY-SA. Scale: 0 (least democratic) to 1 (most democratic).

📋 PRESS FREEDOM HISTORICAL DATA

Year	Score	Rank	Political	Economic	Legal	Social	Safety
2025	27.9	162	23.8	42.3	21.4	28.5	23.7
2024	27.1	166	21.0	40.4	20.4	30.1	23.8
2023	32.4	170	37.2	33.3	21.7	30.1	39.8
2022	33.7	166	37.3	33.7	22.4	36.5	38.8
2021	37.3	170	-	-	-	-	28.9
2020	37.9	170	-	-	-	-	33.7
2019	34.1	172	-	-	-	-	100.0
2018	36.9	169	-	-	-	-	36.9
2017	34.0	168	-	-	-	-	38.4
2016	40.3	165	-	-	-	-	67.8
2015	40.6	164	-	-	-	-	44.0
2014	41.7	164	-	-	-	-	-
2013	43.1	163	-	-	-	-	-
2012	83.3	158	-	-	-	-	-
2010	61.5	157	-	-	-	-	-
2009	76.5	163	-	-	-	-	-
2008	61.8	161	-	-	-	-	-
2007	59.8	148	-	-	-	-	-
2006	76.0	161	-	-	-	-	-
2005	66.0	154	-	-	-	-	-

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index