الخصائص السكانية لأرباب الأسر في الأحياء العشوائية بمدينة الرياض

Abstract EN

The present study attempts to identify the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the heads of household in shantytown areas in Riyadh, by utilizing data from a sample survey conducted in the various shantytowns in Riyadh, namely: “Al-Mursalat, Ibn Shuraim, Al-’Ammajiyya, Al-Ghanna-miyya, the eastern part of Annahdha, Okaz and Al-Jibs”.

A random sample of 430 households, which represented about (20 %) of all households were interviewed in a one-on-one fashion.

It was found that the majority of head of households are male (88 %), and most of them are immigrants; that is about 62 % came from other areas, and a large proportion of them (83 %) live in low-income families.

The study also showed that heads had of households had low level of educational attainment with illiteracy rate reaching about (19 %) which is higher than the national average of about 10 %.

Most of heads are relatively old; about 60 % of them were more than 40 years old.

Dwellers in shantytowns live in large families, averaging about 7 persons with some variations from on neighborhood to another.

On the other hand, working heads of households comprise about (73 %), which is considered low, knowing that they supported large families.

A considerable number of household heads worked for the public and private sectors with a notably high percentage of pensioners.

In general, large variations from one area to another were noticed, which reflected differences in population composition.

In conclusion, the study presented a number of recommendations including the following: 1) to develop small towns and rural areas to curb influx of rural migrants to Riyadh and other big cities; 2) to improve the environment of shantytowns by empowering the of such area to leverage their education and income, and hence their living conditions; 3) to enforce the existing laws and legislations in order to control the expansion of shantytown settlements.