The Republic of Iraq, usually known as Iraq (Arabic: العراق (help·info), pronounced [ʕiˈrɑːq]), is a country in the Middle East spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and...

Major cities After the revolution, Shahyad Tower was renamed Azadi Tower (Freedom Tower). Imam Reza shrine Iran has one of the highest urban-growth rates in the world. From 1950 to 2002 the urban...

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Morocco summary and related information.

Egypt (Egyptian: Kemet; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ Kīmi; Arabic: مصر Miṣr ; Egyptian Arabic: Máṣr), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country in North Africa that includes the Sinai...

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Cyprus (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros; Turkish: Kıbrıs), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti) is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern...

Afġānistān, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان, Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامى جمهوريت ), is a landlocked country that is located in south Asia. It is variously...

Saudi Arabia

Syria (Arabic: سوريا Sūriyā or سورية Sūriyah), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية ), is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon, the Mediterranean Sea and the island of...

Jordan (Arabic: الأردنّ, transliterated as Al-Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية), is a country in the Arab World in western Asia, bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the...

Algeria (Arabic: الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir IPA: [ɛlʤɛˈzɛːʔir], Berber: , Dzayer [ldzæjər]), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is the second largest country on the African continent[1] and the 11th largest country in the...

Yemen (Arabic: اليَمَن AL-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhuuriyya al-Yamaniyya) is a Middle Eastern country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. With a population of about...

Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) (Arabic: السودان as-Sūdān)[1] is the largest country in Africa[2] and tenth largest country in the world by area. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia...

Morocco (Arabic: المغرب), officially the Kingdom of Morocco[2] (Arabic: المملكة المغربية), is a country in North Africa with a population of 33,241,259. It has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar...

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Somalia (Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال transliteration: aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال transliteration: Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly...

The State of Kuwait (Arabic: دولة الكويت) is a constitutional monarchy on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built...

Lebanon (IPA: /ˈlɛbənɒn/) (Arabic: لبنان Lubnān; French: Liban), officially the Republic of Lebanon[2] or Lebanese Republic[3] (الجمهورية اللبنانية), La République Libanaise , is a small, mostly mountainous country in the...

Tunisia (Arabic: تونس Tūnis), officially the Tunisian Republic (الجمهورية التونسية‎), is a country situated on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. It is the...

Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabic: مملكة البحرين , Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn), is a borderless island country in the Persian Gulf and is the smallest Arab state. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the...

United Arab Emirates

Mauritania (Arabic: موريتانيا Mūrītāniyā), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in North-West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast,...

The Sultanate of Oman (Standard Arabic: سلطنة عُمان , Salṭanat ʿUmān, IPA: [sɛ̈ltˤɑnɛ̈t ʕʊmæːn]) is a country in southwest Asia, on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates on the...

Qatar (Arabic: قطر ; IPA: [ˈqɑtˁɑr][1]), officially the State of Qatar (Arabic: دولة قطر transliterated as Dawlat Qatar), is an Arab emirate in Southwest Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the larger...

Djibouti (Arabic: جيبوتي Jībūtī, Somali: Jabuuti), officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in eastern Africa. Djibouti is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of...

The term MENA, for "Middle East and North Africa", is an acronym often used in academic and business writing. The term generally covers an extensive region, extending from Morocco in northwest Africa to Iran in southwest Asia. It generally includes all the Arab Middle East and North Africa countries, as well as Iran but not Turkey.^[1]

Palestinian territories (the West Bank and Gaza Strip)

Some organizations, such as the Group of 8 have larger and more inclusive definitions of the Middle East which include most of the above territories as well as:

The population of the MENA region as it is typically defined comprises about 6% of the total world population, and is equivalent in number to one third of the population of the People's Republic of China. The population of the MENA region is almost equivalent to the population of the European Union, and is one and a quarter times larger than the population of the United States.

The MENA region has vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas that make it a vital source of global economic stability. According to the Oil and Gas Journal (January 1, 2007), the MENA region has 70% of the world's oil reserves (797.04 billion barrels) and 46% of the world's natural gas reserves (2.8413 quadrilion cubic feet). 2. As of 2007, 8 of the 12 OPEC nations are within the MENA region. 3