Demographics
Popular Saudi and foreign opinion regards Jeddah as the most liberal and cosmopolitan of Saudi cities due to its historic role as port and gateway to the holy city of Mecca. For over one thousand years, Jeddah has received millions of pilgrims of different ethnicities and backgrounds, from Africa, Central Asia, Russia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East, some of whom remained and became residents of the city. As a result, Jeddah is much more ethnically diverse than most Saudi cities and its culture more eclectic in nature (in contrast with the more geographically isolated and religiously strict capital, Riyadh). The oil boom of the past 50 years has brought hundreds of thousands of working immigrants and foreign workers from non-Muslim countries, including a significant number from South Asia, adding to the city's ethnic diversity. Moreover, in contrast to other cities of Saudi Arabia, women have greater freedom of movement here, and religious police are less active.
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