Saudi Arabia's riches conceal a growing problem of poverty | World news | Guardian Weekly

Saudi Arabia's riches conceal a growing problem of poverty | World news | Guardian Weekly

The children of Souad Al-Shamir watch television in their living room in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Photograph: Linda Davidson/Washington Post

A few kilometres from the blinged-out shopping malls of Saudi Arabia's capital, Souad al-Shamir lives in a concrete house on a trash-strewn alley. She has no job, no money, five children under 14 and an unemployed husband who is laid up with chronic heart problems.

"We are at the bottom," she said, sobbing hard behind a black veil that left only her eyes visible. "My kids are crying and I can't provide for them."

Millions of Saudis struggle on the fringes of one of the world's most powerful economies, where jobs and welfare programmes have failed to keep pace with a population that has soared from 6 million in 1970 to 28 million today.

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