The Riyadh Province ( '), is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, located in the geographic center of the country and the center of the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

. It has an area of and with a 2022 population of 8,591,748, it is the second-largest region by area, behind the Eastern Province and the largest by population. The capital governorate of the province is the

Riyadh Governorate Riyadh Governorate () is one of the 22 governorates (''muhafzah'') of Riyadh Province that contains the city of Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia alongside five other towns and neighborhoods. It shares borders with the Rumah governorate to the north, ...

and it is named after the capital of the kingdom,

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

, which is the most populous city in the region and the kingdom, with a little less than two-thirds of the population of the region residing within the city. The province was governed for nearly five decades by Prince

Salman bin Abdulaziz Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; born 31 December 1935) has been King of Saudi Arabia since 2015, and was Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. He is the 25th son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. He assumed the thron ...

from 1963 to 2011 shortly before he became the

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

in 2012. Currently, it is governed by Prince Faisal bin Bandar. Other populous cities in the region include Al Ghat,

Dawadmi Dawadmi or Ad Dawadimi () is a town in Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia. Google Maps spells the name as Al Duwadimi. As of the 2022 census it had a population of 563,861 people. The town is mostly inhabited by the tribe of Banu 'Utaybah. It is locat ...

Afif Afif ( ) is a city in central Saudi Arabia, in the Najd region. It is situated approximately halfway between Riyadh and Mecca. The modern town was established in the 1910s as a ''hijra'', or "settlement", for the nomadic tribes of the area, part ...

Zulfi Az Zulfi (also Zulfi, Zulfy City or Al Zulfi or Az Zilfi) is a city in Riyadh Province in central Saudi Arabia, about 260 kilometres northwest of Riyadh. It is connected by Roads 418 and 535 which both link with the main Highway 65 which conne ...

and Majma'ah. Approximately half of the region's area is desert, and it only borders other regions of the kingdom; it has no international borders. The region borders, clockwise from the north, the Eastern Province,

Najran Province Najran ( ') is a Southern Provinces of Saudi Arabia, province of Saudi Arabia. It has an area of 149,511 km². Its capital is Najran. Najran is inhabited by the Banu Yam, Yam tribe. A significant percentage of the province's inhabitants ar ...

ʽAsir Province Asir, officially the Aseer Province, is a province of Saudi Arabia in southern Arabia. It has an area of , and an estimated population of 2,024,285 (in 2022). Asir is bounded by the Mecca Province to the north and west, al-Bahah Province to the ...

Mecca Province Mecca Province (, ), officially Makkah Province, is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the third-largest province by area at and the most populous with a population of 8,557,766 as of 2017, of which 4,041,189 were foreign nationals ...

, Medina Province and the

Al-Qassim Province The Qassim Province ( ' , Najdi Arabic: ), also known as the Qassim Region, is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. Located at the heart of the country near the geographic center of the Arabian Peninsula, it has a population of 1,336,179 and ...

. It is one of the 7 regions of the kingdom that do not have a coastline.

Population

Population development since 1992:

Subdivisions

In addition to the Municipality of

, the region is divided into 19 governorates (''

muhafazat A is a first-level administrative division of many Arab countries, and a second-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia. The term is usually translated as "governorate", and occasionally as "province". It comes from the Arabic root , , (ve ...

'') and one sub-governorate (''

markaz Markaz may refer to: Organisations * The Markaz, formerly the Levantine Cultural Center, a religious cultural center in West Los Angeles, California * Markazu Saqafathi Sunniyya, a university in Kerala, India * Markaz Knowledge City, a city ...

''): *

Layla "Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, '' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' (1970). Its contrasting movemen ...

'Afif Afif ( ) is a city in central Saudi Arabia, in the Najd region. It is situated approximately halfway between Riyadh and Mecca. The modern town was established in the 1910s as a ''hijra'', or "settlement", for the nomadic tribes of the area, part ...

Al-Ghat Al-Ghat (), also Alghat, El-Ghat or Elghat, is a small town in Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia. It is located by road northwest of Riyadh. As of the 2016 census it had a population of 16500 people. A joint Saudi-Belgian Mission (2013–14) confirm ...

Al-Gway'iyyah al-Quwayʿiyah (also ''El Kuveyiye'', ) is a city in Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia. It is located in the west of Riyadh, 165 km away. It is considered as a major stopping point on Riyadh-Makkah Highway. AlQuway'iyah's population is approxima ...

* Al-Hareeg *

Al-Kharj Kharj () is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate in central Saudi Arabia. It is one of the important governorates in Saudi Arabia. Located southeast of the capital, Riyadh, it covers an area of 7640 mi2 (19,790 km2) and has a popu ...

Al Majma'ah Al Majma'ah () is a city and a governorate in Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia. It is located at around , and it is the capital of the Sudair region. The city has an area of 30,000 square kilometres. The population of the town is around 70,000, while ...

* Al-Muzahmiyyah * Al-Sulayyil *

Dhruma Dhruma or Darma () is a small town located by road northwest of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is the center of the small Dhurma Governorate of Riyadh Province, and had a population of 10,267 people according to the 2004 census. It lies in the wid ...

Dir'iyyah Diriyah (; formerly romanization of Arabic, romanized as Dereyeh and Dariyya) is a towns in Saudi Arabia, town and governorate in Saudi Arabia. Located on the northwestern outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Diriyah was the original home of t ...

Hotat Bani Tamim Hotat Bani Tamim () is a Saudi Arabian town, adjacent to Riyadh. Its population is about 40,000. Most of the residents are no longer from the Tamimi tribe. Hotat Bani Tamim is located 135 km south of Riyadh's southern ring road, and slightly no ...

Huraymila Huraymila is one of the governorates in Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsu ...

* Rimah * Shaqra *

Thadig Thadiq () is a village in Nejd, Saudi Arabia. It is a historical city established about four centuries ago. It is located to the north from Riyadh (about 130 km). See also * List of cities and towns in Saudi Arabia * Regions of Saudi Ar ...

Wadi ad-Dawasir Wadi Al Dawasir () is a city in Najd, Saudi Arabia, in the Dawasir valley. The region is the homeland of the tribe of Al-Dawasir, the name Dawasir derives from the Arabic word 'Dawsar', the most prominent meaning of this word is Steel Lion. The L ...

* Marat *

Yabrin Yabrin is a settlement in Saudi Arabia south of Riyadh, within the Eastern Region. The closest town is Haradh. The area was an important crossing point and oasis town in caravan routes to Oman as early as the third millennium BCE. A large number ...

* Al-Zulfi

Modern history of Riyadh Province and Saudi Arabia

List of governors

References

External links

* * * * Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI), official

Saudi Saudi or Saudi Arabian may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia See also *Saud (disambiguation) The House of Saud The H ...

census figures from 2004: ** ** {{Authority control * Provinces of Saudi Arabia