Determined the prevalence of migraine and tension headache among 23,227 residents of Thugbah, Saudi Arabia via a 2-stage, door-to-door community survey. A screening was conducted for 16,672 persons above and 6,555 below 7 yrs of age. Of these, 22,630 Ss provided datA total of 3,265 Ss who had abnormal responses to the initial screening were subsequently evaluated by neurologists. 2,742 had headaches yielding a crude prevalence rate of 12.1%. With age adjustment, the prevalence rose to 15.9%. There was female preponderance overall and the peak frequency was in the 3rd decade. The prevalence of tension-type headache was higher than migraine. The low headache prevalence in Thugbah compared to findings in western countries could be ascribed to the young age of the population and/or could possibly reflect the influence of traditional lifestyles and cultural factors in the Kingdom.