The kingdom's Vision 2030 is moving forward in its eighth year, illuminating a new path in which the homeland and the citizen will grow, and contribute to providing opportunities for success for future generations, starting from three pillars, which are its strengths, the first pillar of which is that the kingdom is a depth to the Arab and Islamic worlds, which gave it an authentic cultural status rooted deep in history, and the second pillar is its enormous investment capabilities, which enable it to launch towards new economic horizons by developing the economy and diversifying sources of income, relying on this is based on the energies of its sons and daughters, who represent more than half of Saudis, in addition, the kingdom is a hub connecting three Continents and sea routes are among the most important in the world, which makes it characterized by a strategic geographical location and a global position.
Since the launch of the kingdom's Vision 2030 on April 25, 2016, which was developed by the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister – May God protect them – the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is witnessing an unprecedented historical transformation and remarkable growth that supports the purpose of the vision, which lies in building a prosperous and promising future, through achieving economic growth and improving the quality of life.
The vision represents a journey towards a future full of opportunities for the ambitious and creative youth of the Kingdom, and it is the largest ambitious national plan for change, with which dreams and hopes have turned into a reality full of achievements and achieving goals.
Coinciding with the eighth year of the launch of the kingdom's ambitious vision; the annual report of Saudi Vision 2030 for 2023 highlights the performance of vision achievement programs in 2023, where 87% of the 1,064 initiatives for 2023 are complete or on track, while the key performance indicators for 2023 were estimated at 243 indicators, 81% of the performance indicators for the third level achieved their targets, while 105 indicators exceeded their future targets for 2024/ 2025.
The Kingdom recorded a historic increase in the number of pilgrims from abroad, reaching 13.56 million pilgrims, exceeding the 2023 target of 10 million, compared to the baseline of 6.2 million pilgrims, and the overall target of the vision is 30 million pilgrims, while the number of volunteers to serve the guests of mercy reached more than 131 thousand volunteers, exceeding the target of 110 thousand volunteers.
The number of Saudi heritage sites listed with UNESCO reached 7 sites exceeding the target of the year estimated at 6 sites, compared to the baseline of 4 sites, and approaching the target of 2030 of 8 sites, the last of those sites registered with the World Heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO); the "veins of Bani Ma'adir"Reserve.
Due to the kingdom's regional and international status and the unlimited support of the wise leadership, the Kingdom won the hosting of Expo 2030 in Riyadh, after the world chose it in competition with the cities of Busan in South Korea and Rome in Italy, where the kingdom received 119 votes representing the majority.
In the field of tourism, the number of visitors to the Kingdom reached 106 million, including 27.4 million international visitors, to become the second place in terms of the growth of international tourists.
In order to achieve the objectives of the kingdom's vision to improve the quality of life, the actual value of the average life expectancy reached 78.10 years compared to the estimated baseline of 77.6 years, while the vision target is 80 years, and the percentage of population communities, including the peripheral covered by health services, exceeded the target in 2023 by 96.41%, where the target percentage reached 96%, compared to the estimated baseline of 84.13%. The vision index is 99.5%.
As for adults who practice physical activity for 150 minutes a week, their percentage approached the overall vision target estimated at 64%, achieving an actual value of 62.3% and exceeding the 2023 target estimated at 51%, and the baseline was estimated at 49%.
The housing sector has achieved many figures aimed at enhancing the availability of housing options for various segments of society, as 66 thousand Saudi families have received their homes, and launched more than 24 thousand housing units until the end of August, and the percentage of citizens owning their homes reached 63.74%, achieving the 2023 target of 63%, compared to the baseline of 47%, and the overall target of the vision is 70%.
More than 96 thousand citizens have also benefited from housing support services for residential products, and the total financial support for those eligible for support was estimated at SAR 4.1 billion, while the percentage of beneficiaries of financial subsidies who are able to work and enabled exceeded the general target of 32% with an actual value of 32.3% compared to the baseline of 1%, separating it from the vision target of 6%.

On the economic level, the global ranking in terms of the kingdom's GDP recorded a value of Sar 2,959 billion, compared to the baseline of Sar 2,685 billion, the target for the year is SAR 3,032 billion, and the vision target is SAR 6,500 billion.
The value of non-oil GDP reached SAR 1,889 billion, compared to the baseline of Sar 1,519 billion, the target of the year is SAR 1,934 billion, the general target of the vision is SAR 4,970 billion, while the contribution of the private sector to the GDP reached 45%, achieving the general target of 45%, compared to the baseline of 40.3%, while the general vision target is 65%.
Loans to small and medium enterprises as a percentage of bank loans amounted to 8.3%, compared to the baseline of 2%, the general target is 8.6%, the vision target is 20%, while the share of local content in the oil and gas sector reached 63%, compared to the baseline of 37%, exceeding the general target of 59%, while the overall vision target is 75%.
As for the cumulative total export value of oil and gas-related industries, it amounted to SAR 605.43 billion, compared to the baseline of Sar 128.9 billion, surpassing the year's target of Sar 495.4 billion, the vision target is SAR 2.114 billion, and the share of local content of non-oil sector expenditures reached 56.8% compared to the baseline of 52%, the year target is 59%, and the vision target is 75%.
The military industries witnessed 10.4% localization, compared to the baseline of 7.7%, exceeding the general target of 9%, while the vision target is 50%.
The total assets managed by the PIF reached SAR 2.81 trillion, compared to the baseline of Sar 0.72 trillion, surpassing the overall target of Sar 2.7 trillion, while the vision target is estimated at SAR 10 trillion.
93 companies were established in the PIF portfolio in 2023, compared to 71 companies in 2022, and the fund provided 644 thousand direct and indirect jobs, compared to 500 thousand in 2022.
The share of non-oil exports in non-oil GDP reached 24.1%, compared to the baseline of 18%, the target for the year is 36%, the vision target is 50%, while the unemployment rate among Saudis reached 7.7%, compared to the baseline of 12.3%, exceeding the 2023 target of 8%, while the vision target is 7%.
The percentage of technical and vocational education graduates enrolled in the labor market within 6 months of graduation was 45.8%, compared to the baseline of 13.9%, the target of the year was 46.6%, and the vision target was 65%, while the percentage of university graduates enrolled in the labor market within 6 months from the date of graduation was 41.2%, compared to the baseline of 13.3%, thus achieving the target of the year was 41.2%, while the vision target was 75%.
As for people with disabilities who are able to work, their percentage reached 12.6%, compared to the baseline of 7.7%, exceeding the general target of 12.3%, while the vision target is 15%.
Because women are a key partner with their male counterparts in advancing national development, the kingdom's vision is keen to empower women and provide everything that will ensure that they fulfill their developmental role, while retaining their full rights, and with legislation by the wise leadership –supported by God - comes a translation of what was confirmed by the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – may God protect him - in his annual speech at the Shura Council, where he said: "We will continue our efforts to empower Saudi women and raise their participation rates in the public and private sectors".
As a result of this support and empowerment from the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and His Highness The Crown Prince – may God protect them - the participation rate of women in the labor market reached 34%, compared to the baseline of 22.8%, and the vision target is 40%, while the participation rate of Saudi women in the workforce reached 35.5%.
The sub-index of economic participation and opportunities reached 0.637 degrees, compared to the baseline of 0.33 degrees, exceeding the target of the year of 0.592 degrees, while the vision target is 0.736.
The kingdom was able to record inflation rates among the lowest among the economies of the group of twenty countries, where it reached 1.6% in the fourth quarter, compared to 3.1% in the same quarter of 2022, and the kingdom also recorded the highest historical level of the contribution of non-oil activities at 50% of the real GDP for 2023, and the GDP growth of non-oil activities reached 4.7% during 2023.
The Saudi Telecom and technology market is the largest and fastest growing in the Middle East and North Africa with a growth of 10%, while its contribution to GDP has increased to 3.8%.
The localization of jobs expanded to include 14 professions that were nationalized in the logistics sector, and communications and information technology professions recorded localization by 65%.
As part of the efforts exerted to enable employment, the number of jobs in the ICT sector reached 354 thousand jobs, the culture sector included more than 216 thousand employees, while the number of jobs in the tourism sector reached 913 thousand jobs, and more than 49 thousand job opportunities were made available to Social Security beneficiaries from Saudis.
The index of the sales volume of productive families supported by the Social Development Bank for the year 2023 recorded an increase of more than SAR 15 billion, exceeding its estimated target of more than SAR 14 billion.
In the health field, as part of enhancing and raising the efficiency of health services to facilitate the beneficiaries ' experience, more than 30 million beneficiaries have benefited from the "My Health" application, and a "doctor for every family" service was launched to provide preventive and curative health care, where 20 million beneficiaries were connected to a medical team for each family, and the Nafis platform was launched, which benefited more than 14 million beneficiaries.
In order to create an attractive investment environment, the kingdom has developed 50 industrial investment opportunities worth more than SAR 96 billion, and the proportion of foreign and joint investments in the industrial sector amounted to 37% of the total investments of the sector until May 2023, and its value amounted to more than SAR 542 billion, and more than 200 international companies have moved their regional headquarters to the capital Riyadh.
Non-oil government revenues amounted to SAR 457 billion, compared to the baseline of Sar 166 billion, while the vision target is SAR 1,000 billion, and these revenues contributed to covering 35% of the total budget expenditures for the year 2023, estimated at SAR 1,293 billion.
The Kingdom ranked 31st in terms of its ranking in the United Nations e-Government Development Index, compared to the baseline where the Kingdom ranked 36th, while the overall target of the vision was set at 5th place.
The Kingdom ranked 17th globally among the 64 most competitive countries, 2nd globally in the Cybersecurity Index, 3rd among the group of twenty countries in terms of overall performance, 3rd among the group of twenty countries, 5th globally in the financial market index, 6th in the economic performance axis, 11th globally in the government efficiency axis, 13th globally in business efficiency, and 34th globally in infrastructure.
In the logistics sector, the Kingdom achieved the 17th place in the logistics index issued by the World Bank, and the eighth in the Lloyd's global ranking, and also achieved progress in the International Air Connectivity Index, to occupy the 13th place.
In order to promote the culture of volunteering and spread it among the general community, the vision has set targets to increase the number of volunteers in order to achieve the charitable goal, where the number of volunteers reached 834 thousand volunteers, compared to the baseline of 22.9 thousand volunteers, exceeding the target of the year of 670 thousand volunteers, the vision target is one million volunteers, while the percentage of large companies providing social responsibility programs reached 64.8%, compared to the baseline of 30%, thus exceeding the target of the year of 57%, and the vision target is 90%.
2023 witnessed the registration of more than 53 million volunteer hours through the national platform for volunteer work, and provided more than 528 thousand volunteer opportunities, and included more than one million registered volunteers in the platform, who contributed to more than 30 volunteer fields.
The non-profit sector contributed to the GDP by 0.87%, compared to the baseline of 0.2%, thus exceeding the general target of 0.51%, and the vision target is 5%.
The percentage of employees in the non-profit sector of the total workforce was 0.55%, compared to the baseline of 0.13%, exceeding the overall target of 0.39%, and the vision target is 3.1%.
In the environmental field and to combat climate change issues, and within the green initiative of Saudi Arabia, the kingdom has achieved tangible progress in its sustainable environmental initiatives; to be a successful start towards a green ERA and a more sustainable tomorrow, including the planting of more than 49 million trees in various regions of the kingdom, more than 3 million wild seedlings, and rehabilitated more than 975 hectares of agricultural terraces in the south-west of the kingdom, equipped with rainwater harvesting techniques, and the index of rehabilitated vegetation area recorded 192.4 thousand hectares, exceeding the target of the year of 69 a thousand hectares, 1,660 endangered animals were also resettled, in addition, the Kingdom witnessed the birth of 7 Arabian tiger cubs, 18.1% of the wild areas became nature reserves, and 6.49% of the marine areas became nature reserves.
In 2020, 40 tons of blue ammonia were shipped to Japan, in the first integrated value chain, and in 2021 a contract was signed for the installation of a desalination plant with a capacity of more than 2 GW for the company "Air Products" in NEOM, while in 2022 the Kingdom and South Korea signed preliminary agreements for the development of green hydrogen, and the kingdom is looking forward to by 2030, it aims to be the largest supplier of hydrogen in the world by achieving an annual target of 4 million tons.
2,800 GW of renewable energy has been connected to the national electricity grid, enough to supply electricity to 520 thousand homes.
The kingdom's Vision 2030 is moving forward in achieving achievements after Achievements, with the follow –up, guidance and direct supervision of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may God protect him, as the Government Effectiveness Index reached 70.8 degrees for the year 2023, compared to the baseline of 63 degrees, thus exceeding the target of the year of 60.7 degrees, while the vision target is 91.5 degrees.
There is no doubt that these achievements in the eighth year of the vision would not have been achieved if it were not for the good wishes of Allah Almighty, and then the directives and diligent follow – up by the wise leadership-supported by Allah-which comes as a translation of what His Highness The Crown Prince-may Allah protect him-said: "We have called this vision (vision of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2030), but we will not wait until then, but we will immediately begin to implement everything that we have committed ourselves to, and with you and you, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be a great country that we are all proud of-inshallah -".
For details of the "Saudi Vision 2030 annual report for 2023"; visit the website (from here )