Saudi women’s participation in the labour force rose to 35 percent in 2025, up from 22.8 percent the previous year before the launch of Saudi Vision 2030, according to the program’s 2025 annual report.
The figures highlight one of the most visible social and economic shifts under Saudi Arabia’s reform agenda, which has focused on increasing women’s employment, expanding private sector opportunities, and easing barriers to entering the workforce.
The report also showed growth in women-led commercial activity, with women’s share rising to 48 percent in 2025, compared with 41 percent in 2024.
Women’s representation in leadership roles also continued to grow, reaching 43.9 percent in senior management positions, according to the report.
Several government-backed initiatives were cited as contributing factors, including childcare support programmes that benefited more than 52,000 women, commute assistance programmes used by over 370,000 women, and training schemes that helped more than 121,000 women develop job skills.
In the technology sector, Saudi Arabia ranked first globally for women’s participation in artificial intelligence, according to the Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence AI Index referenced in the report.
Beyond the workplace, women’s participation in sports has also expanded, with the number of women’s national teams reaching 25.
Saudi Arabia has introduced a series of labour and social reforms in recent years as part of Vision 2030, including broader employment access for women, entrepreneurship support, and initiatives aimed at increasing female participation across public and private sectors.
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