Saudi Arabia

Overview

Every country has a weak point. Saudi Arabia's happens to be economic policy, where income inequality ranks worse than 92% of the 72 countries on this list. Environmental and industrial policy and political institutions aren't doing much better, landing at the 79th and 19th percentiles respectively. Overall, that puts Saudi Arabia at #46 — #46 Most Cooked.

Saudi Arabia scores 23 out of 100, the global median sits at 27 — so this is 4 points below that line (higher means more cooked). Performance is lopsided: income inequality ranks worse than 92% of countries, while billionaires hoarded (16 billionaires) is the closest thing to a bright spot — and it still only beats 39% of the field. None of this is really about Saudi Arabia specifically — it's about what's propping up the economic policy numbers underneath.

Sources: World Bank — Gini Index (SI.POV.GINI) (2018–2022) · IQAir World Air Quality Report (2025) · V-Dem + Global Peace Index (2025)