Comment Damn (Score 1) 52
So sad.
Cut off the oil without an adequate replacement and all you have is a recipe for getting voted out in a democracy or getting suspended from the nearest lamp post in a not-democracy.
Since this is talking about Saudi Arabia you probably should have just dropped the part about getting voted out of a democracy. They're a hereditary monarchy.
Saudi Arabia has seen reduced GDP from oil ever since it peaked at 87.1% in 1979. It's somewhere around 24% today and will continue to drop.
Saudi Arabia has been trying to reduce their dependence on oil revenue for two decades or more but they are a desert nation with few other national resources.
They're wealthy but desperate as their economics are guided by the knowledge that the future currently looks grim for them.
Depopulation is a natural consequence of a nation getting wealthier
The primary correlation for smaller family size is women's education.
But women's education tends to correlate quite strongly with wealth.
With your bare hands?!?