![]() Islam is the dominant religion except in Israel where Judaism is the de facto religion. It is spoken in all the countries except in Israel where Hebrew is a dominant language. The dominant language in the MENA region is Arabic. The term by most definitions fully encompasses Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, European Turkey, and a large part of Croatia and Serbia. Saudi Arabia is the largest economy with a GDP of $740 billion followed by Iran ($333.6 billion), the United Arab Emirates ($382 billion) and Egypt ($249 billion). A majority of the people live in middle-income states that produce 60% of the world’s oil and 45% of the natural gas. In addition to the small GDP, the region also has a relatively small population. The GDP of MENA is about 3.3 trillion dollars representing 4.5% of the global GDP. Egypt (94 million), Iran (80 million), and Algeria (40 million) are the most populous countries in the region. The population of the region is at least 381 million or 6% of the world’s population. These are Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Chad, Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, and Turkey. A further 16 countries are sometimes included depending on usage. These are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. There are 19 countries that are generally considered part of the MENA region. The boundaries of MENA is more geographic rather than social or religious. While MENA is inclusive of Iran, it does not include Pakistan, Turkey, or Afghanistan. The second Bush administration coined the word “Greater Middle East” to refer to the entire Muslim-majority nations including Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. To clear the ambiguity, the World Bank and the United Nations began using the term “Middle East and North Africa” to refer to the region spanning horizontally between Iran in the east to Morocco in the west. However, the composition of countries in the Middle East remains contentious even to date. It was Eurocentric and commonly used by the Western World. The term “Middle East” was coined in the 19th century to refer to the transcontinental area between southwest Asia and North Africa. A further 16 countries are sometimes included. There are 19 countries generally included as part of the MENA countries. The MENA region is sometimes known as the Arab World or the Greater Middle East. MENA is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa region, it is popularly used by academic, economic, social and international organizations.
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