Prince Dr. Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs patronized here Monday evening the opening ceremony of the Symposium of Social Effects of Urban Expansion On Arab City, organized by the Principality of Madinah in cooperation with the Arab Institute for Urban Development, in the presence of Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Madinah Region. Participants in the Symposium included researchers in social, urban and environmental sciences from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and 8 other Arab countries. Addressing the ceremony, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs said, "The population statistics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1431AH showed that there are four cities, each one includes more than a million people, namely Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, while four cities have a population of half a million and 19 other cities with more than 100,000 people. The number of people living in urban areas is estimated to be 85% of the Kingdom's total population. "
