Introduction:
Based on the Royal Order No. 3/ and /26301 dated 30/11/1401 A.H, (28/09/1981 A.D), mandating the Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI) to issue a directory of services in cities and villages of the kingdom to be a united official reference for all government agencies, and provides the basic data that may be needed by planners; development policy makers and decision-makers.
The CDSI has persisted in the preparation, issuance and development of this directory to cope with the actual developments, updates, requirements and needs of the basic data.
The Directory takes the administrative division of the Kingdom in accordance with the "Regions' System" issued by the Royal Order No. A / 92 and dated 27/08/1412 A.H, corresponding to 01/03/1992 A.D (administrative regions, provinces, centers) as a general framework for the distribution and classification of data related to the services available in cities and villages of the Kingdom.

Directory's Importance:
The issuance of bulletin on the statistics of services in the cities and villages of the Kingdom aims to make available a directory containing formally documented and united data and information with high degree of accuracy on all services available, so these data become a common reference for all ministries, agencies, government institutions and others upon which they rely in planning and distribution of services in the cities and villages of the Kingdom.

Objectives of the Directory:

1. The confinement of education, health, agricultural, social, administrative and public services available in each population establishment.
2. The availability of data from their main sources.
3. Continued updating of the data, information and population establishment.

Periodical Issuance of the Directory:
The first directory of services in cities and villages of the Kingdom was issued in 1402 A.H, (1982 A.D) and it   presently issued every three years.

Distribution and classification of data and information included in the Directory:
The Directory is issued in 13 bulletins each related to each of the Kingdom's 13th administrative regions. Process of the distribution and classification of data and information in each bulletin is based on the administrative division of the Kingdom issued by Ministry of Interior, and which was recently amended by the Royal Order No. A / 92 and dated 27/08/1412 A.H, corresponding to (01/03/1992 A.D).
Each directory contains all data of each population establishment (City-Village) by the subordination of the establishment to the Center or Province.
These data include the name of the population establishment, geographic data and information and data on the education, health, administrative, social agricultural and public services.

Content of Directory:
The directory contains the following data and information:

1. Number of population in the population establishment.
2. Number of establishments by economic activity and type of sector at administrative region level.
3. Most important economic indicators of establishments by economic activity at level of administrative region.
4. Service establishments at level of administrative region, include: the airports, dams, main paved roads, hotels, chambers of commerce and industry, sports cities, stadiums, youth hostels, sports and literary clubs.
5. Geographic data and information, include: name of population establishment, distance in km away from the administrative unit, to which the population establishment subordinates (the Center or Province), direction and type of road linking the population establishment with its administrative unit, in addition to data on the nearest population establishment with available health or educational services, for those population establishments with no either of these two services.
6. Education services include: services of public education, government, private Koran memorizing schools (boys and girls), university education technical, industrial, agricultural, health, scientific and female teachers training colleges and institutes, in addition to institutes and schools of special education, adult education and literacy.
7. Health services include: government and private hospitals, primary health care centers, private clinics and the services of the Saudi Red Crescent Society.
8. Social, administrative and agricultural services include: departments of Civil Affairs, Endowments, Labor offices, centers of the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, notary and courts, municipalities and rural areas, social security offices, development centers, Civil Defense, Passport Department, administrative centers, traffic police centers, agricultural banks and the directorates and branches of the Ministry of Agriculture.
9. Public, and private services include: services of electricity, water, communications, post, banking services, travel agencies, tourism and public libraries.

Bodies and Agencies Related to Directory's Data and Information :
The directory's data and information reflect the services of the concerned government bodies and agencies which include : Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Water and Electricity, Ministry of Culture and Information, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Islamic affairs, Endowments, Da‘wah and Guidance, Ministry of Transportation, Presidency of Commissions of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, General Presidency for Youth Welfare, Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Saudi Postal Corporation.