Covid-19 Pandemic: Psychological, Social and Economic Impacts on Saudi Society

Abstract

COVID-19 is a global crisis that has caused many consequences on societies, including Saudi society. For instance, fear, anxiety, and social divergence due to the disease's rapid spread and the absence of efficacious treatment. In addition to closures and quarantine. This study aims at identifying the psychological, social, and economic effects on Saudi society. We used the analytic approach. More specifically, the snowball sampling method was conducted with (1624 participants) aged between (18 -+60) during the COVID-19 pandemic from Riyadh and Najran cities. Accordingly, an online survey was conducted during the outbreak's peak phase, using the researchers' questionnaire. The results indicated that the psychological impact level was 42.25%, social (64.4%), and economic (51%) on Saudi society during the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, psychosocial influence levels are exceptionally high for unmarried women, patients, and over 60 years. In contrast, the economic impact is high for married couples, private sector employees, and those living in rural areas with less than SAR 5,000. As a result, the study recommended that the Saudi government pay more attention to individuals' social, psychological, and economic aspects by developing medium and long-term political strategies, such as mapping the rates of psychological, social, and economic health problems to allocate adequate support and creating innovative ways online to increase the people well-being.   Received: 2 February 2021 / Accepted: 31 March 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021