$1 million to each Saudi newborn

[snopes]

Comment: We are being told that Saudi Arabia has so much money that
whenever a baby is born there to a citizen of Saudi Arabia, one million
dollars is given to that newborn by Saudi Arabia. This does not sound
true to me.

[Towknie]

I guess riyals are no good in Saudi so they've got to use dollars.

[Troberg]

Indirectly, through services such as schools, healthcare and so on, that's probably true. On the other hand, that's probably true for most industrialized nations.

[Il-Mari]

Looking at the statistics from Wikipedia, it appears that at the current rate, about 650,000 new Saudi nationals are born each year. That would mean that they'd have to spend 650,000,000,000 (650 billion) on just these payments. The total GDP of Saudi Arabia for 2007 was $381.938 billion, so this doesn't sound even vaguely plausible.

- Il-Mari

[Mr. Billion]

Originally Posted by Troberg

Indirectly, through services such as schools, healthcare and so on, that's probably true. On the other hand, that's probably true for most industrialized nations.

It might be true as one million riyals, but I doubt one million dollars. A riyal's about a quarter of a dollar.

According to this, the Saudi government spent about $118 billion in 2007. So with a population of 28 million one could make the argument that Saudi Arabia spent $4,214.29 for every man, woman, and child in the country, including non-nationals. If a newborn lived to be 85, the Saudi government would spend about a third of a million on him or her over that period.

So I guess the above assertion wouldn't even be true for riyals unless you stretch it out over a lifetime.

[FullMetal]

sounds similar to what happens at a Reserve around here. but not newborn it comes when they turn 18... and nowhere near a million I don't remember the exact number. but it's also not everyone in the country just everyone on a specific reserve.

wouldn't Saudi Arabia only give it to the males anyway?

[Troberg]

According to this, the Saudi government spent about $118 billion in 2007.

I'm no economist (as an engineer, I believe that it's impossible to be both an engineer and an economist, or at least it should be), so I don't know what goes into those numbers. Is it the difference between money flowing in and money flowing out, or is it just the outflow? If it's the former, it's still possible.

Frankly, I don't see government spending $1 million on a person throughout his/her lifetime as unreasonable. We start as expensive, with an intensive period for the health care system, then daycare, then school, college and universities. Most likely, we get sick somewhere along the line, perhaps have a few accidents, maybe unemployed for a while. When we get old, we become very expensive again, as we need more healthcare and more advanced healthcare, and eventually full time care. That's the typical case, then there's people with handicaps, drug problems or permanent unemployment, which cost much more. It's a lot of money, but hopefully, we are also productive and generate money from tax and from spending so that others may make money.

I just made a rough estimate, and, assuming I work until retirement time, I will pay between $1 million and $1.5 million in taxes during my lifetime. That's just income tax (around 40-45% for me). I've not included VAT (25% on just about anything you buy, products or services, so it's basically a 25% tax on what you have left after the income tax), road/vehicle tax ($300-$400 per year), petrol tax (around 70-80% here), alcohol tax ($6-$10 per liter), storage media tax (slightly more than $0.10 per GB, this hits me hard) and so on is not included, nor is various other charges they slam you with.

Out of all that money, I'd expect that most of it will come back to me during my lifetime (averaged out among the population, of course).

Basically, it's a system of evening out the needs vs the capabilities. You get money when you need them, mostly as a child or when you are old, and you pay them back when you have the capability, usually when you have a professional career.