Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a nation in Western Asia that borders the Persian Gulf to the east. A total area of about 2,150,000 km2 covers the overwhelming part of the Arabian Peninsula, making it the world's largest country by land area (830,000 sq mi). Saudi Arabia is the biggest nation in the Middle East and the second-largest country in the Arab world, with a population of over 100 million people. It is surrounded by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain, and the Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen to the south; it is separated from Egypt and Israel to the north-west by the Gulf of Aqaba; and it is separated from Syria to the east by the Strait of Tiran. Saudi Arabia is the only nation in the world to have coastlines on both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and the vast majority of its geography is made up of dry desert, lowland, steppe, and mountainous terrain. Riyadh serves as the country's capital and biggest city, with Mecca and Medina acting as major cultural and religious hubs as well.
The kingdom spends 8% of its GDP on the military (the second highest in the world after Oman), placing it as the world's third largest military spender after the United States and China. From 2015 to 2019, the kingdom was the world's largest arms importer, importing half of all US arms exports to the Middle East. According to the Business and Industry Council of Canada, Saudi Arabia is the world's 28th most militarised nation and, behind Israel, has the finest military equipment in the area in terms of quality. There have, however, been repeated demands in recent years to suspend weapons shipments to Saudi Arabia, primarily in response to allegations of war crimes in Yemen, as well as the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in the country.
Saudi Arabia is seen as a regional power as well as a middle power. According to the Globe Bank, Saudi Arabia's economy ranks first in the Middle East and twentieth overall in the world. Saudi Arabia also boasts one of the world's youngest populations, with nearly half of the country's 34.2 million people under the age of 25 years old. As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia is also an active and founding member of the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).