Labelled the "giant of the Middle East," Saudi Arabia houses the holy city of Mecca where Muslims participate in an annual pilgrimage, called Hajj. Not only famous for its religious attractions, the kingdom’s oil reserves make up approximately 18% of the world’s petroleum reserves, according to OPEC. The kingdom is the 2nd largest OPEC Member Country.
In the US News report, Power is a subcategory and based on “the respective country's leader, economic influence, political influence, international alliances, and military power.” The report also takes into consideration the citizenship, cultural influence, heritage, movers, entrepreneurship, power and quality of life amongst others. America was placed as the world’s most powerful country, with Russia, China and Germany following closely behind.
Within the Gulf region, this is how the other Arab countries ranked in terms of power:
Saudi Arabia (No. 9 globally)
United Arab Emirates (No. 11 globally)
Iraq (No. 19 globally)
Qatar (No. 24 globally)
Egypt (No. 29 globally)
Jordan (No. 33 globally)
Lebanon (No. 36 globally)
Oman (No. 42 globally)
Morocco (No. 61 globally)
Tunisia (No. 63 globally)
With all of the subcategories together, Saudi Arabia ranked in at No.32 globally but ranked 9th in terms of two subcategories - power and movers. “Movers ranks countries based on the economies of respective nations,” as reported by StepFeed. Along the view to reduce its reliance on oil, Saudi Arabia is set on diversifying and boosting its economy under Vision 2030.
