Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy whose Basic Law is grounded in Islamic law. Under the Vision 2030 programme the state is using oil wealth to diversify the economy and loosen some social restrictions while prohibiting political dissent.
In the 12 Axes register, Saudi Arabia leans hardest on Democratic – Autocratic: Autocratic 95%; the register median is balanced 50%.
Take the test and this line shows how close your twelve scores are to Saudi Arabia, and the axis where you differ most.
Where Saudi Arabia sits on each of the twelve axes, in four categories. The label is our estimate; the line under it says why.
Centralized
Power held by royal court
Autocracy
No national elections
Authoritarian
Dissent criminalised
Anti-Interventionist
Saudi-first national agenda
Military-Focused
Among world's top arms importers
Assimilationist
Citizenship tightly restricted
Mixed Economic
State oil wealth, sovereign fund
Regulationism
State-led Vision 2030
Moderate
WTO member, oil exporter
Religious
Basic Law grounded in Islam
Traditionalist
Sharia-based law, gradual opening
Technological
Giga-projects and AI investment
Set against the median of all 195 countries in the register.
Democratic – Autocratic
On Democratic – Autocratic, Saudi Arabia is at Autocratic 95%. The register median is balanced 50%.
Collectivize – Privatize
On Collectivize – Privatize, Saudi Arabia is at balanced 50%, almost the register median of balanced 50%.
Closeness is 100 minus the root-mean-square distance on all twelve axes.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.britannica.com
Map: Keepscases, perlshaper, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped and resized.
Last updated: 2026-10-15
The tiers on this page are our estimates from public positions and policies. They are not an official statement by the person or the government concerned. Two independent passes scored every axis and a third settled the differences. How the register works. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].
