Rich Nation, Poor People: Saudi Arabia by Lynsey Addario

  • Fatima Hazazi stands in front of boxes of medicine she requires monthly to treat her kidney problem at home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Despite the extremely wealthy sector of society in Saudi Arabia, and the the veneer of widespread affluence projected outside the Kingdom, severe poverty is as much a part of life in Riyadh as wealth.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    1 of 16
  • Saudi children play on old furniture outside of the home in which they live in a poor neighborhood in South Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    2 of 16
  • One of twelve children living in a house that Yayeh Mussawa rents with his family in South Riyadh. Like many across Saudi Arabia who are living barely above the poverty line, Mussawa's family relies on charity to survive.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    3 of 16
  • Saudis beg in a line on a street known to locals as 'The Beggars' Street,' in South Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    4 of 16
  • Saudi children do the dishes in a home in South Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    5 of 16
  • Selma Saleh, an impoverished Saudi woman, sits on her bed in her home in South Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    6 of 16
  • Matara stands with her two boys next to a sink without water in her home in South Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    7 of 16
  • A young man begs on the street in Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    8 of 16
  • Saudi citizens rest after presenting Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince al Waleed bin Talal, with petitions for his help at a desert camp outside of Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    9 of 16
  • Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    10 of 16
  • Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    11 of 16
  • Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    12 of 16
  • Young Saudi women pray in a friend's home before going out to dinner in Riyadh. Though statistics are difficult to confirm, youth unemployment and poverty are on the rise in Saudi Arabia. While society is increasingly open to women in the workforce, there are still limited jobs in which women and men can work side by side. There are a great number of highly educated Saudis who can not find work suitable for their qualifications.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    13 of 16
  • A Saudi woman bids on an Arabian Horse at an auction outside of Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    14 of 16
  • Saudi men pray at dusk at a camel market outside of Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    15 of 16
  • Saudis linger after an auction for Arabian Horses at a club outside of Riyadh.
    Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
    16 of 16
By Aryn Baker

With its vast oil wealth, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest concentrations of super rich households in the world. But an estimated 20 percent of the population, if not more, lives in crippling poverty. Beggars panhandle in the shadows of Riyadh’s luxury shopping malls, and just a few kilometers away families struggle to get by in the capital’s southern slums. While the government has finally acknowledged that poverty is a problem in the kingdom, the world of the Saudi poor is largely hidden from sight (to read more, see the new article on Saudi Arabia in the international edition of TIME, available to subscribers here).

Accessing this world is a difficult undertaking for foreign journalists, granted only with the assistance of a few dedicated social workers who risk government opprobrium to expose the realities of life lived on the margins. The Saudi state offers free health care and education, but little in the way of income assistance or food stamps. Many poor Saudi families rely on handouts from private citizens instead. Muslims are expected to give a portion of their annual income to charity, and many go beyond the bare minimum. Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, Saudi Arabia’s richest investor, estimates that he has given several billions of dollars in charity over the past 30 years, much of it wired directly to the accounts of petitioners who apply to his office for assistance with paying back loans, buying a car or getting married. It’s not necessary, but most of those supplicants visit the prince in person as part of a weekly ritual dating back to the early days of the al Saud dynasty. They line up to deliver their requests. Several pause to recite poems in praise of his generosity. The government has pledged to eradicate poverty, but it is a difficult and long-term undertaking made all the more complex by a rapidly growing population and a paucity of jobs.

Lynsey Addario is a photographer based in London and a frequent contributor to TIME.

Aryn Baker is the Middle East bureau chief for TIME. Follow her on Twitter @arynebaker.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com.

You May Also Like
Next Up: Editor's Pick
How We Can Learn to Live with COVID-19 After Vaccinations
EDIT POST