Saudi Arabia, in the dark
Six things are true about Saudi Arabia that most people who live there could not tell you. Here they are, with the year each was measured and who measured it. One of them will not be what you expected.
What is measured here
- Electricity access — 100%
- Share of people with access to electricity at home. Lower than 52% of countries. Measured 2024.
- Internet use — 100%
- Share of people who have used the internet in the last three months. Higher than 98% of countries. Measured 2024.
- Urban population — 84.5%
- Share of people living in areas classed as urban. Higher than 83% of countries. Measured 2024.
- Children per woman — 2.31
- Births per woman over a lifetime, at current rates. Higher than 59% of countries. Measured 2024.
- Life expectancy — 79 yrs
- How long a person born now would live at current mortality rates. Higher than 77% of countries. Measured 2024.
- Safe sanitation — 83.9%
- Share of people with a toilet whose waste is safely treated. Higher than 69% of countries. Measured 2024.
The world's attention, 2026-08-23
The world wrote about Saudi Arabia more than 90% of countries in the last day, and what it wrote was darker than average (tone -0.82). Aggregate counts only — no headlines, no links, no text from the feed.
Where the dark hides things
The game scatters its findings across real towns. In Saudi Arabia those are Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, Medina, At Taif, Hofuf, Al Hillah, Tabuk, Buraydah, Hail, Najran, Al-Qatif, Al Mubarraz, Al Kharj, Yanbu al Bahr, Hafar al Batin, Al Jubayl, Arar, Abha.
Walk it
Uncertainity is a short, experimental browser game — free, no sign-up, a few minutes. It gives you the country you are actually in, as a dark map of its real coastline, and nothing exists until you have been near it. Six findings are hidden in its towns — the six numbers above — and a seventh comes from how the world's attention fell on the place today.
New episodes arrive from time to time rather than on a schedule: geography, current affairs, whatever turns out to be worth walking through. Subscribe and you get one email when one lands, and nothing else.
Play it