View source for Arab world

{{Short description|Geocultural region in Asia and Africa}}
{{About|the geographical region|the geopolitical entity|Arab League}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox continent
|title = Arab world
|image =  Member states of the Arab League (orthographic projection).svg
|area = {{convert|13132327|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Arab World – Surface area|url=https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/arab-world/surface-area|website=indexmundi.com}}</ref>
|population = 456,520,777<ref name="totalpop">{{cite web |title=Arab World {{!}} Data |url=https://data.worldbank.org/region/arab-world |publisher=World Bank |access-date=6 May 2022}}</ref>
|density = 29.839/km<sup>2</sup> (70.37/sq mi)<ref>{{cite web|title=Population density (people per sq. km of land area) {{!}} Data|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?locations=1A&view=chart|publisher=World Bank|language=en-us}}</ref>
|GDP_nominal             = $2.782 trillion<ref>{{cite web|title=GDP (current US$) {{!}} Data|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=1A|publisher=World Bank|language=en-us}}</ref>
|GDP_per_capita      = $6,647<ref>{{cite web|title=GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) {{!}} Data|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD?locations=1A|publisher=World Bank|language=en-us}}</ref>
|demonym = [[Demographics of the Arab world|Arab]]
|countries           = {{collapsible list
 |titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
 |title = 22 [[Arab League|Arab states]]
 |liststyle = text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;
 |Minimum definition:
 |{{flag|Algeria}}
 |{{flag|Bahrain}}
 |{{flag|Egypt}}
 |{{flag|Iraq}}
 |{{flag|Jordan}}
 |{{flag|Kuwait}}
 |{{flag|Lebanon}}
 |{{flag|Libya}}
 |{{flag|Mauritania}}
 |{{flag|Morocco}}
 |{{flag|Oman}}
 |{{flag|Palestine}}
 |{{flag|Qatar}}
 |{{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
 |{{flag|Sudan}}
 |{{flag|Syria|revolution}}
 |{{flag|Tunisia}}
 |{{flag|United Arab Emirates}}
 |{{flag|Yemen}}
 |Extended definition:
 |{{flag|Comoros}}
 |{{flag|Djibouti}}
 |{{flag|Somalia}}
 }}

|dependencies = [[Arab League]]<ref name="Frishkopf" />
|time = [[UTC±00:00]] to [[UTC+04:00]]
|internet = [[.africa]], [[.asia]]
|cities = [[List of largest cities in the Arab world|Major cities of Arab world]]
 {{Collapsible list
| list_style = text-align:left;
| 1 = {{flagicon|Egypt}} [[Cairo]] <br />
{{flagicon|Iraq}} [[Baghdad]]<br /> 
{{flagicon|Saudi Arabia}} [[Riyadh]]<br />
{{flagicon|Egypt}} [[Alexandria]]<br />
{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[Amman]]<br /> 
{{flagicon|Algeria}} [[Algiers]]<br /> 
{{flagicon|Saudi Arabia}} [[Jeddah]]<br /> 
{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Casablanca]]<br />
{{flagicon|Yemen}} [[Sanaa]]<br />
{{flagicon|United Arab Emirates}} [[Dubai]]
 }}
}}
{{Arab world}}

The '''Arab world''' ({{langx|ar|اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-ʿālam al-ʿarabī}}''), formally the '''Arab homeland''' ({{lang|ar|اَلْوَطَنُ الْعَرَبِيُّ}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-waṭan al-ʿarabī}}''),<ref>{{cite web|last1=Khan|first1=Zafarul-Islam|title=The Arab World – an Arab perspective|url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/6666-the-arab-world-an-arab-perspective|website=milligazette.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Christopher|title=Everyday Arab Identity: The Daily Reproduction of the Arab World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8djTtq2v5AC&pg=PA94|publisher=Routledge|language=en|date=2012|isbn=978-1-136-21960-3|page=94}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mellor|first1=Noha|last2=Rinnawi|first2=Khalil|last3=Dajani|first3=Nabil|last4=Ayish|first4=Muhammad I.|title=Arab Media: Globalization and Emerging Media Industries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GoU-NRhn1agC&pg=PT10|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|language=en|date=2013|isbn=978-0745637365}}</ref> also known as the '''Arab nation''' ({{lang|ar|اَلْأُمَّةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-ummah al-ʿarabiyyah}}''), the '''Arabsphere''', or the '''Arab states''',<ref>{{cite web|title=Majority and Minorities in the Arab World: The Lack of a Unifying Narrative|url=http://jcpa.org/article/majority-and-minorities-in-the-arab-world-the-lack-of-a-unifying-narrative/|website=Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs}}</ref> comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in [[West Asia]] and [[North Africa]]. While the majority of people in the Arab world are ethnically [[Arabs|Arab]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hitti |first=Philip K. |title=The Arabs : a short history |date=1996 |publisher=Regnery Publishing |others=Philip K. Hitti |isbn=0-89526-706-3 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=34753527}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rogan |first=Eugene L. |title=The Arabs: A History |date=2011 |isbn=978-0-465-02504-6 |edition=First paperback |location=New York, NY |oclc=728657250 |publisher=Basic Books }}</ref> there are also significant populations of other ethnic groups such as [[Berbers]], [[Kurds]], [[Somalis]] and [[Nubians]], among other [[Demographics of the Arab world|groups]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Middle East – People and Society |url=https://world101.cfr.org/rotw/middle-east/people-and-society |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=World101 from the Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}</ref> [[Arabic]] is used as the [[lingua franca]] throughout the Arab world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jordan and Syria |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/map/JOSY |access-date=2018-07-21 |website=[[Ethnologue]]}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Jastrow |first=Otto O. |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |volume=2 |page=414 |year=2006 |editor1-last=Versteegh |editor1-first=Kees |chapter=Iraq |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-14474-3 |editor2-last=Eid |editor2-first=Mushira |editor3-last=Elgibali |editor3-first=Alaa |editor4-last=Woidich |editor4-first=Manfred |editor5-last=Zaborski |editor5-first=Andrzej}}</ref><ref>[[ethnologue:ars|Arabic, Najdi Spoken]]. Ethnologue</ref><ref>[[ethnologue:acw|Arabic, Hijazi Spoken]]. Ethnologue</ref><ref>[[ethnologue:afb|Arabic, Gulf Spoken]]. Ethnologue</ref><ref>Simeone-Sinelle, Marie-Claude (2005). "Arabic Lingua Franca in the Horn of Africa". ''Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics''. '''2''' – via Academia.edu.</ref>

The Arab world is at its minimum defined as the 19 states where [[Arab]]s form at least a [[wiktionary:plurality|plurality]] of the population.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Why the Arab world has an identity crisis |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/special-report/2021/08/24/why-the-arab-world-has-an-identity-crisis |access-date=2022-11-20 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref name="tamari">{{Cite book |last=Tamari |first=Steve |title=Who are the Arabs? |publisher=[[Center for Contemporary Arab Studies|Georgetown University-Center for Contemporary Arab Studies]] |year=2008 |location=Washington, D.C., United States |pages=1 |language=English}}</ref> At its maximum it consists of the 22 [[member states of the Arab League|members]] of the [[Arab League]], an international organization,<ref name="Frishkopf" /> which on top of the 19 plurality Arab states also includes the [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]]-speaking [[Comoros]], and the [[Cushitic-speaking peoples|Cushitic]]-speaking [[Djibouti]] and [[Somalia]]. The region stretches from the [[Atlantic Ocean]] in the west to the [[Arabian Sea]] in the east, and from the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the north to the [[Indian Ocean]] in the southeast.<ref name="Frishkopf" /> The eastern part of the Arab world is known as the [[Mashriq]], and the western part as the [[Maghreb]].

According to the [[World Bank]], the Arab world has a total population of 456 million inhabitants and a [[gross domestic product]] of $2.85 trillion, as of 2021.<ref name="totalpop" /> The region is economically quite diverse, and includes some of the wealthiest as well as poorest populations in the world.<ref name="tamari"/>

In [[post-classical history]], the Arab world was synonymous with the [[History of the Arabs|historic Arab empires and caliphates]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Arab League |url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/arab-league |access-date=2023-11-02 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}</ref> [[Arab nationalism]] arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other [[Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire|nationalist]] movements within the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of Arab people and especially to pursue the [[Arab Union|political unification]] of the Arab countries, a project known as [[Pan-Arabism]].<ref name="encyclopedia1">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-113946363.html |title=Arab League Sends Delegation to Iraq |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |date=8 October 2005 |access-date=13 February 2011}}</ref><ref name="encyclopedia2">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-113950671.html |title=Arab League Warns of Civil War in Iraq |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |date=8 October 2005 |access-date=13 February 2011}}</ref>

== Terminology ==
In page 9 of ''Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions'', 10th century Arab geographer [[Al-Maqdisi|Al Maqdisi]] used the term ''Arab regions''{{efn|{{Langx|ar|أَقَالِيمُ ٱلْعَرَبِ}}}} to refer to the lands of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] (Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen). He also considered Iraq, alongside [[Upper Mesopotamia]] (Iraq, Syria and Turkey), [[Ash-Sham]] (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Turkey), Egypt and the Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) to be part of the Arab regions.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad |last=al-Muqaddasī |title=The best divisions for knowledge of the regions |date=2001 |publisher=Garnet publ |isbn=1-85964-136-9 |oclc=469513651}}</ref>

[[Malta]], an island country in [[Southern Europe]] whose [[Maltese language|national language]] derives from Arabic (through [[Siculo-Arabic|Sicilian Arabic]]), is not included in the region. Similarly, [[Chad]], [[Eritrea]] and [[Israel]] recognize Arabic as one of their official or working languages but are not included in the region because they are not members of the Arab League.

==Definition==
The linguistic and political denotation inherent in the term ''[[Arab people|Arab]]'' is generally dominant over [[genealogical]] considerations. In Arab states, [[Modern Standard Arabic|Standard Arabic]] is used by the government. Local [[Varieties of Arabic|vernacular languages]] are referred to as ''[[Darija]]'' ({{lang|ar|الدَّارِجَة}} "everyday/colloquial language"<ref>Wehr, Hans: ''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (2011); Harrell, Richard S.: ''Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic'' (1966)</ref>) in the [[Maghreb]] or ''Aammiyya'' ({{lang|ar|ٱلْعَامِيَّة}} "common language") in the [[Mashreq]]. The majority of the vocabulary in these vernaculars is shared with Standard Arabic; however, some of them also significantly borrow from other languages, such as [[Berber languages|Berber]], [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] in the Maghreb.<ref>Tilmatine Mohand, Substrat et convergences: Le berbére et l'arabe nord-africain (1999), in Estudios de dialectologia norteaafricana y andalusi 4, pp 99–119</ref>

===Standard territorial===
{{main|Arab League}}
Although no globally accepted definition of the Arab world exists,<ref name="Frishkopf"/> all countries that are [[Member states of the Arab League|members]] of the [[Arab League]] are generally acknowledged as being part of the Arab world.<ref name="Frishkopf"/><ref name="Hätinger">Benjamin Hätinger, ''The League of Arab States'', (GRIN Verlag: 2009), p.2.</ref>

The Arab League is a [[regional organisation]] that aims, among other things, to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries and sets out the following definition of an Arab:
{{blockquote|An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arab country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arab people.<ref>Dwight Fletcher Reynolds, ''Arab folklore'': a handbook, (Greenwood Press: 2007), p.1.</ref>}}

This standard territorial definition is sometimes seen to be inappropriate<ref>Baumann: 8</ref> or problematic,<ref>Deng: 405</ref> and may be supplemented with certain additional elements (see [[#Ancillary linguistic|ancillary linguistic definition]] below).<ref name="Kronholm">Kronholm: 14</ref>

====Member states of the Arab League====
{{Main|Member states of the Arab League}}
{| border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="width:100%;"
! style="width:33.33%; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; font-weight:normal;"|
* {{Flag|Algeria}} ({{langx|ar| الجزائر}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-Jazā’ir}}''): [[Standard Algerian Berber|Berber]] is the second official language (minority)  
* {{Flag|Bahrain}} ({{langx|ar|البحرين}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-Baḥrayn}}'')
* {{Flag|Comoros}} ({{langx|ar|جزر القمر}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Juzur al-Qumur}}''): [[Comorian language|Comorian]] and [[French language|French]] are the other official languages
* {{Flag|Djibouti}} ({{langx|ar|جيبوتي}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Jībūtī}}''): [[French language|French]] is the other official language
* {{Flag|Egypt}} ({{langx|ar|مصر}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Miṣr}}'')
* {{Flag|Iraq}} ({{langx|ar|العراق}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-‘irāq}}''): [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]] is the second official language (minority)
! style="width:33.33%; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; font-weight:normal;"|
* {{Flag|Jordan}} ({{langx|ar|الأردن}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-ʾurdun}}'')
* {{Flag|Kuwait}} ({{langx|ar|الكويت}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-Kuwayt}}'')
* {{Flag|Lebanon}} ({{langx|ar|لبنان}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Lubnān}}'')
* {{Flag|Libya}} ({{langx|ar|ليبيا}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Lībyā}}'')
* {{Flag|Mauritania}} ({{langx|ar|موريتانيا}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Mūrītānyā}}'')
* {{Flag|Morocco}} ({{langx|ar|المغرب}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-Maghrib}}''): [[Standard Moroccan Amazigh|Berber]] is the second official language (minority) 
* {{Flag|Oman}} ({{langx|ar|عمان}} ''{{transliteration|ar|‘umān}}'')
* {{Flag|Palestine}} ({{langx|ar|فلسطين}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Filasṭīn}}'')
* {{Flag|Qatar}} ({{langx|ar|قطر}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Qaṭar}}'')
! style="width:33.33%; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; font-weight:normal;"|
* {{Flag|Saudi Arabia}} ({{langx|ar|السعودية}} ''{{transliteration|ar|as-Su‘ūdiyyah}}'')
* {{Flag|Somalia}} ({{langx|ar|الصومال}} ''{{transliteration|ar|aṣ-Ṣūmāl}}''): [[Somali language|Somali]] is the first official language
* {{Flag|Sudan}} ({{langx|ar|السودان}} ''{{transliteration|ar|as-Sūdān}}''): [[English language|English]] is the second official language
* {{flag|Syria|revolution}} ({{langx|ar|سوريا}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Sūriyā}}'')
* {{Flag|Tunisia}} ({{langx|ar|تونس}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Tūnis}}'')
* {{Flag|United Arab Emirates}} ({{langx|ar|الإمارات}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-ʾimārāt}}'')
* {{Flag|Yemen}}  ({{langx|ar|اليمن}} ''{{transliteration|ar|al-Yaman}}'')
|}

===Ancillary linguistic===
{{Main|Arabic language}}
As an alternative to,<ref>Rejwan: 52</ref> or in combination with,<ref name="Frishkopf">Frishkopf: 61: "No universally accepted definition of 'the Arab world' exists, but it is generally assumed to include the twenty-two countries belonging to the Arab League that have a combined population of about 280 million (Seib 2005, 604). For the purposes of this introduction, this territorial definition is combined with a linguistic one (use of the Arabic language, or its recognition as critical to identity), and thereby extended into multiple diasporas, especially the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Australia."</ref> the standard territorial definition, the Arab world may be defined as consisting of peoples and states united to at least some degree by Arabic language, culture or geographic contiguity,<ref>Sullivan and Ismael: ix</ref> or those states or territories in which the majority of the population speaks Arabic, and thus may also include [[Arab diaspora|populations of the Arab diaspora]].<ref name="Frishkopf"/>

When an ancillary linguistic definition is used in combination with the [[#Standard territorial|standard territorial definition]], various parameters may be applied{{Clarify|this sounds [[WP:OR]]. The language must be changed or a very reliable source added|date=June 2015}} to determine whether a state or territory should be included in this alternative definition of the Arab world. These parameters may be applied{{Clarify|sounds [[WP:OR]]|date=June 2015}} to the states and territories of the Arab League (which constitute the Arab world under the standard definition) and to other states and territories. Typical parameters that may be applied include: whether Arabic is widely spoken; whether Arabic is an official or national language; or whether an Arabic cognate language is widely spoken.
[[File:Arabic Varieties Map-2023.svg|thumb|300px|[[Varieties of Arabic]]]]
While [[Arabic dialects]] are spoken in a number of Arab League states, [[Modern Standard Arabic|Literary Arabic]] is official in all of them. Several states have declared Arabic to be an [[List of countries where Arabic is an official language|official or national language]], although Arabic is not as widely spoken there. As members of the Arab League, however, they are considered part of the Arab world under the standard territorial definition.

[[Somalia]] has two official languages, Arabic and [[Somali language|Somali]], while [[Somaliland]] has three, Arabic, Somali and [[English language|English]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2001-03-02|title=Somaliland Republic : Country Profile|url=http://www.somalilandgov.com/cprofile.htm|access-date=2021-10-13|website=archive.ph|archive-date=2 March 2001|archive-url=https://archive.today/20010302083933/http://www.somalilandgov.com/cprofile.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Both Arabic and Somali belong to the larger [[Afroasiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] language family. Although Arabic is widely spoken by many people in the north and urban areas in the south, Somali is the most widely used language, and contains many Arabic [[loan word]]s.<ref>Diana Briton Putman, Mohamood Cabdi Noor, ''The Somalis: their history and culture'', (Center for Applied Linguistics: 1993), p.15.</ref>

Similarly, [[Djibouti]] has two official languages, Arabic and [[French language|French]]. It also has several formally recognized national languages; besides Somali, many people speak [[Afar language|Afar]], which is also an Afro-Asiatic language. The majority of the population speaks Somali and Afar, although Arabic is also widely used for trade and other activities.<ref name="Legum">Colin Legum, ''Africa contemporary record: annual survey and documents'', Volume 13, (Africana Pub. Co.: 1985), p.B-116.</ref>

The [[Comoros]] has three official languages: Arabic, [[Comorian language|Comorian]] and French. Comorian is the most widely spoken language, with Arabic having a religious significance, and French being associated with the educational system.

[[Chad]], [[Eritrea]]<ref name="CIA">[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/eritrea/ Eritrea] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927060149/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/eritrea/ |date=27 September 2021 }}. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].</ref> and [[Israel]] all recognize Arabic as an official or working language, but none of them is a member-state of the Arab League, although both Chad and Eritrea are observer states of the League (with possible future membership) and have large populations of Arabic speakers.

Israel is not a part of the Arab world. By some definitions,<ref name="Kronholm"/><ref>Rinnawi: xvi</ref> [[Arab citizens of Israel]] may concurrently be considered a constituent part of the Arab world.

[[Iran]] has about 1.5 million Arabic speakers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Middle East {{ndash}} Iran |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iran/ |work=[[The World Factbook]] |access-date=24 October 2013 }}</ref> [[Iranian Arabs]] are mainly found in [[Ahvaz]], a southwestern region in the [[Khuzestan Province]]; others inhabit the [[Bushehr Province|Bushehr]] and [[Hormozgan Province|Hormozgan]] provinces and the city of [[Qom]]. [[Mali]] and [[Senegal]] recognize [[Hassaniya]], the Arabic dialect of the [[Moors|Moorish]] ethnic minority, as a [[national language]].<ref name="Hassaniyya">{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mey |title=Hassaniyya – A language of Mauritania |publisher=Ethnologue.com |access-date=17 October 2011}}</ref> [[Greece]] and [[Cyprus]] also recognize [[Cypriot Maronite Arabic]] under the [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]]. Additionally, Malta, though not part of the Arab world, has as its official language [[Maltese language|Maltese]]. The language is grammatically akin to Maghrebi Arabic.

==History==
{{main|History of the Arabs}}
{{see also|History of the Middle East}}

===Early history===
{{further|Pre-Islamic Arabia|Arabization}}
[[File:Great Mosque of Kairouan Panorama - Grande Mosquée de Kairouan Panorama.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|The [[Mosque of Uqba|Great Mosque of Kairouan]] (also called the Mosque of Uqba) was founded in 670 by the Arab general and conqueror Uqba ibn Nafi.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sm0BfUKwct0C&q=kairouan+oldest+mosques+arab+world&pg=PA248 |title=Hans Kung, ''Tracing the Way: Spiritual Dimensions of the World Religions'', éd. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006, p. 248 |date=31 August 2006 |access-date=17 October 2011|isbn=9780826494238 |last1=Küng |first1=Hans |publisher=A&C Black }}</ref> The [[Mosque of Uqba|Great Mosque of Kairouan]] is located in the historic city of [[Kairouan]] in [[Tunisia]].]]

The [[Arabs]] historically originate as a [[Central Semitic languages|Central Semitic]] group in the northern [[Arabian Peninsula]], the [[Southern Levant]] and the [[Syrian Desert]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=al-Jallad |first1=Ahmad |title=Ancient Levantine Arabic: A Reconstruction Based on the Earliest Sources and the Modern Dialects |year=2012 |publisher=ProQuest LLC |isbn=9781267445070 |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED547427}}</ref> Arab [[Tribes of Arabia|tribes]] and federations included the [[Nabataeans]], [[Tanukhids]], [[Salihids]], [[Ghassanids]].

Arab expansion is due to the [[early Muslim conquests]] of the 7th and 8th centuries. [[Iraq]] was [[Muslim conquest of Persia|conquered]] in 633, [[Levant]] (modern Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon) was [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|conquered]] between 636 and 640 CE. [[History of Muslim Egypt|Egypt]] was [[Arab conquest of Egypt|conquered]] in 639, and gradually Arabized during the medieval period. A distinctively [[Egyptian Arabic]] language emerged by the 16th century. The [[Maghreb]] was also [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|conquered]] in the 7th century, and gradually Arabized under the [[Fatimids]].
Islam [[Islamization of the Sudan region|was brought]] to [[Sudan]] from Egypt during the 8th to 11th centuries. The culture of Sudan today depends on the tribe, some have a pure Nubian, [[Beja people|Beja]], or Arabic culture and some have a mixture of Arab and [[Nubian people|Nubian]] elements.<ref>Bechtold, Peter R (1991). "More Turbulence in Sudan" in ''Sudan: State and Society in Crisis''. ed. John Voll ([[Westview Press]] (Boulder)) p. 1.</ref>

===Ottoman and colonial rule===
The Arab [[Abbasid Caliphate]] fell to the [[Mongol invasions]] in the 13th century. Egypt, the Levant and Hejaz also came under the Turkish [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]].

By 1570, the Turkish [[Ottoman Empire]] controlled most of the Arab world. However, [[Morocco]] remained under the rule of the [[Zenata]] [[Wattasid dynasty]], which was succeeded by the [[Saadi dynasty]] in the 16th to 17th centuries. The [[Ajuran Sultanate]] also held sway in the southern part of the Horn region.

The sentiment of [[Arab nationalism]] arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other [[Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire|nationalisms within the declining Ottoman Empire]].
[[File:Ibrahim_Pasha_During_his_Final_Years.jpg|alt=Ibrahim Pasha During his Final Years|thumb|252x252px|[[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt]], leader of the [[Egyptian Army]] in the [[Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833)|Egyptian Ottoman War]]]]
When the Ottoman Empire collapsed as a result of [[World War I]], much of the Arab world came to be controlled by the European colonial empires: [[Mandatory Palestine]], [[Mandatory Iraq]], [[British protectorate of Egypt]], [[French protectorate of Morocco]], [[Italian Libya]], [[French occupation of Tunisia|French Tunisia]], [[French colonization of Algeria|French Algeria]], [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]] and the so-called [[Trucial States]], a British protectorate formed by the sheikhdoms on the former "Pirate Coast".

These Arab states only gained their independence during or after [[World War II]]: the [[Republic of Lebanon]] in 1943, the [[Syrian Arab Republic]] and the [[Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan]] in 1946, the [[Kingdom of Libya]] in 1951, the [[Kingdom of Egypt]] in 1952, the [[Kingdom of Morocco]] and [[Tunisia]] in 1956, the [[Republic of Iraq]] in 1958, the [[Somali Republic]] in 1960, [[Algeria]] in 1962, and the [[United Arab Emirates]] in 1971.

By contrast, [[Saudi Arabia]] had fragmented with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and was [[Unification of Saudi Arabia|unified]] under [[Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia]] by 1932.

The [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen]] also seceded directly from the Ottoman Empire in 1918. [[Oman]], apart from brief intermittent Persian and Portuguese rule, has been self-governing since the 8th century.

===Rise of Arab nationalism===
{{further|Islam and modernity|Arab Cold War}}
[[File:Nasser,_Arif_and_Ben_Bella.jpg|alt=Three important men walking alongside each other.|right|thumb|Egyptian president [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] (center) receiving Algerian president [[Ahmed Ben Bella]] (right) and Iraqi president [[Abdul Salam Arif|Abdel Salam Arif]] (left) for the [[1964 Arab League summit (Alexandria)|Arab League summit]] in Alexandria, September 1964.]]
The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of the Arabs, and especially to pursue the political unification of the Arab world, a project known as [[Pan-Arabism]].<ref name="encyclopedia1" /><ref name="encyclopedia2" />
There were some short-lived attempts at such unification in the mid-20th century, notably the [[United Arab Republic]] of 1958 to 1961.
The Arab League's main goal is to unify politically the Arab populations so defined. Its permanent headquarters are located in [[Cairo]]. However, it was moved temporarily to [[Tunis]] during the 1980s, after Egypt was expelled for signing the [[Camp David Accords (1978)]].

Pan-Arabism has mostly been abandoned as an ideology since the 1980s, and was replaced by [[Pan-Islamism]] on one hand, and individual nationalisms on the other.

===Modern conflicts===
{{main|List of modern conflicts in the Middle East}}

====Unification of Saudi Arabia====
The [[unification of Saudi Arabia]] was a 30-year-long military and political campaign, by which the various [[tribe]]s, [[sheikhdom]]s, and [[emirate]]s of most of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] were conquered by the [[House of Saud]], or ''Al Saud'', between 1902 and 1932, when the modern-day [[Saudi Arabia|Kingdom of Saudi Arabia]] was proclaimed. Carried out under the charismatic [[Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia|Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud]], this process created what is sometimes referred to as the ''Third Saudi State'', to differentiate it from the [[First Saudi State|first]] and [[Second Saudi State|second]] states that existed under the Al Saud clan.

The Al-Saud had been in exile in [[Ottoman Iraq]] since 1893 following the disintegration of the Second Saudi State and the rise of [[Emirate of Ha'il|Jebel Shammar]] under the [[Rashidi dynasty|Al Rashid]] clan. In 1902, Ibn Saud recaptured [[Riyadh]], the Al Saud dynasty's former capital. He went on to subdue the rest of [[Nejd]], [[Al-Ahsa Oasis|Al-Hasa]], [[Jebel Shammar]], [[Asir]], and [[Hejaz]] (location of the [[Islam|Muslim]] holy cities of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]]) between 1913 and 1926. The resultant polity was named the [[Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz]] from 1927 until it was further consolidated with Al-Hasa and [[Qatif]] into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

====Arab–Israeli conflict====
{{further|Arab–Israeli conflict}}
[[File:Egyptianbridge.jpg|alt=Egyptianbridge|thumb|240x240px|Egyptian vehicles crossing the [[Suez Canal]] on October 7, 1973, during the [[Yom Kippur War]]]]
The establishment of the [[Israel|State of Israel]] in 1948 has given rise to the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]], one of the major [[ongoing conflicts|unresolved geopolitical conflicts]].

The Arab states in changing alliances were involved in a number of wars with Israel and its western allies between 1948 and 1973, including the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]], the [[Six-Day War]] of 1967, and the [[Yom Kippur War]] of 1973.
An [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]] was signed in 1979.

====Iran–Iraq War====
{{Main|Iran–Iraq War}}
[[File:Operation Chelcheragh (8).gif|thumb|The [[Iran–Iraq War]] (1980–1988) killed more than 500,000 people before a UN-brokered ceasefire ended it]]
The [[Iran–Iraq War]] (also known as the First Gulf War and by various other names) was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the second longest conventional war of the 20th century. It was initially referred to in English as the "Gulf War" prior to the "Gulf War" of 1990.

The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980 following a long history of border disputes, and fears of Shia Islam insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the Iranian Revolution. Iraq was also aiming to replace Iran as the dominant Persian Gulf state. Although Iraq hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary chaos in Iran (see [[Iranian Revolution]], 1979) and attacked without formal warning, they made only limited progress into Iran and were quickly repelled by the Iranians who regained virtually all lost territory by June 1982. For the next six years, Iran was on the offensive.

====Lebanese Civil War====
{{main|Lebanese Civil War}}
The [[Lebanese Civil War]] was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon, lasting from 1975 to 1990 and resulting in an estimated 120,000 fatalities. Another one million people (a quarter of the population) were wounded,{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} and today approximately 76,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon. There was also a mass exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.

====Western Sahara conflict====
{{main|Western Sahara conflict}}
The [[Western Sahara War]] was an armed struggle between the Sahrawi Polisario Front and Morocco between 1975 and 1991, being the most significant phase of the Western Sahara conflict. The conflict erupted after the withdrawal of Spain from the Spanish Sahara in accordance with the Madrid Accords, by which it transferred administrative control of the territory to Morocco and Mauritania, but not the sovereignty. In 1975, Moroccan government organized the Green March of some 350,000 Moroccan citizens, escorted by around 20,000 troops, who entered Western Sahara, trying to establish Moroccan presence.

While at first met with just minor resistance by the Polisario, Morocco later engaged a long period of guerilla warfare with the Sahrawi nationalists. During the late 1970s, the Polisario Front, desiring to establish an independent state in the territory, successively fought both Mauritania and Morocco. In 1979, Mauritania withdrew from the conflict after signing a peace treaty with the Polisario. The war continued in low intensity throughout the 1980s, though Morocco made several attempts to take the upper hand in 1989–1991. A cease-fire agreement was finally reached between the Polisario Front and Morocco in September 1991.

====North Yemen Civil War====
{{main|North Yemen Civil War}}
The [[North Yemen Civil War]] was fought in North Yemen between royalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and factions of the Yemen Arab Republic from 1962 to 1970. The war began with a coup d'état carried out by the republican leader, Abdullah as-Sallal, which dethroned the newly crowned Imam al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency. The Imam escaped to the Saudi Arabian border and rallied popular support.

====Somali Civil War====
{{main|Somali Civil War}}
The [[Somali Civil War]] is an ongoing civil war taking place in [[Somalia]]. It began in 1991, when a coalition of clan-based armed opposition groups ousted the nation's long-standing military government.

Various factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum that followed, which precipitated an aborted UN peacekeeping attempt in the mid-1990s. A period of decentralization ensued, characterized by a return to customary and religious law in many areas as well as the establishment of autonomous regional governments in the northern part of the country. The early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations, culminating in the establishment of the [[Transitional Federal Government]] (TFG) in 2004.<ref name="Eanbkois2"/>

In 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nation's southern conflict zones from the newly formed [[Islamic Courts Union]] (ICU). The ICU splintered into more radical groups, notably [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Al-Shabaab]], which have since been fighting the Somali government and its [[AMISOM]] allies for control of the region. In 2011, a coordinated military operation between the Somali military and multinational forces began, which is believed to represent one of the final stages in the war's Islamist insurgency.<ref name="Eanbkois2">{{cite news|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/east-african-nations-back-kenyan-offensive-in-somalia-132374053/147039.html|publisher=Voice of America|title=E. African Nations Back Kenyan Offensive in Somalia|first=Peter|last=Heinlein|date=22 October 2011|access-date=23 October 2011}}</ref>

====Arab Spring====
{{Main|Arab Spring|Libyan Civil War|Syrian civil war}}
[[File:Budaiya highway protest 08.JPG|thumb|[[2011 Bahraini uprising]]]]
The [[Arab Spring|popular protests throughout the Arab world]] of late 2010 to the present have been directed against authoritarian leadership and associated [[political corruption]], paired with demands for more democratic rights. The two most violent and prolonged conflicts in the aftermath of the Arab Spring are the Libyan Civil War and Syrian Civil War.

===Petroleum===
[[File:Oil and Gas Infrastructure Persian Gulf (large).gif|thumb|[[Petroleum|Oil]] and [[Natural gas|gas]] pipelines and fields]]
While the Arab world had been of limited interest to the European colonial powers, the [[British Empire]] being mostly interested in the [[Suez Canal]] as a route to [[British India]], the economic and geopolitical situation changed dramatically after the discovery of large [[petroleum]] deposits in the 1930s, coupled with the vastly increased demand for petroleum in the west as a result of the [[Second Industrial Revolution]].

The [[Persian Gulf]] is particularly well-endowed with this strategic [[raw material]]: five Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar, are among the top ten petroleum or gas exporters worldwide. In Africa, Algeria (10th world) and Libya are important gas exporters. Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan all have smaller but significant reserves. Where present, these have had significant effects on regional politics, often enabling [[rentier state]]s, leading to economic disparities between oil-rich and oil-poor countries, and, particularly in the more sparsely populated states of the Persian Gulf and Libya, triggering extensive labor immigration. It is believed that the Arab world holds approximately 46% of the world's total proven oil reserves and a quarter of the world's natural-gas reserves.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21580630-even-rich-arab-countries-cannot-squander-their-resources-indefinitely-haves-and|title=The haves and the have-nots|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>

[[Islamism]] and [[Pan-Islamism]] were on the rise during the 1980s. The [[Hezbollah]], a militant Islamic party in [[Lebanon]], was founded in 1982.
[[Islamic terrorism]] became a problem in the Arab world in the 1970s to 1980s. While the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] had been active in Egypt since 1928, their militant actions were limited to assassination attempts on political leaders.

===Recent history===
[[File:SaddamStatue.jpg|thumb|The toppling of [[Saddam Hussein]]'s statue in [[Firdos Square]] in [[Baghdad]] shortly after the American [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]] in 2003]]
[[File:Destroyed house in the south of Sanaa 12-6-2015-3.jpg|thumb|[[Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen|Saudi Arabian-led airstrikes]] in [[Yemen]], June 2015]]
Today, Arab states are characterized by their [[autocratic ruler]]s and [[Democracy in the Middle East|lack of democratic control]]. The 2016 ''[[Democracy Index]]'' classifies [[Lebanon]], [[Iraq]] and [[Palestine]] as "hybrid regimes", [[Tunisia]] as a "flawed democracy" and all other Arab states as "authoritarian regimes". Similarly, the 2011 [[Freedom House]] report classifies the [[Comoros]] and [[Mauritania]] as "[[Electoral democracy|electoral democracies]]",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2008 |title=Freedom House Country Report |publisher=Freedomhouse.org |date=10 May 2004 |access-date=13 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510005050/http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2008 |archive-date=10 May 2011 }}</ref> [[Lebanon]], [[Kuwait]] and [[Morocco]] as "partly free", and all other Arab states as "not free".

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq forces, led to the 1990–91 [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]]. [[Egypt]], [[Syria]] and [[Saudi Arabia]] joined a multinational coalition that opposed Iraq. Displays of support for Iraq by [[Jordan]] and [[Palestine]] resulted in strained relations between many of the Arab states. After the war, a so-called "Damascus Declaration" formalized an alliance for future joint Arab defensive actions between Egypt, Syria, and the GCC states.<ref>Egypt's Bid for Arab Leadership: Implications for U.S. Policy, By Gregory L. Aftandilian, Published by Council on Foreign Relations, 1993, {{ISBN|0-87609-146-X}}, pages 6–8</ref>

A chain of events leading to the destabilization of the authoritarian regimes established during the 1950s throughout the Arab world became apparent during the early years of the 21st century. The [[2003 invasion of Iraq|2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq]] led to the collapse of the [[Baathist]] regime and ultimate [[execution of Saddam Hussein]].

A growing class of young, educated, secular citizens with access to modern media such as [[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] (since 1996) and communicating via the [[internet]] began to form a third force besides the classical dichotomy of Pan-Arabism vs. Pan-Islamism that had dominated the second half of the 20th century. These citizens wish for reform in their country's religious institutions.<ref>Boms, Nir Tuvia and Hussein Aboubakr.  [https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/1/28/htm "Religions."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116161759/https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/1/28/htm |date=16 November 2022 }} ''MDPI''.  2022.  20 January 2022.</ref>

In Syria, the [[Damascus Spring]] of 2000 to 2001 heralded the possibility of democratic change, but the Baathist regime managed to suppress the movement.

In 2003, the [[Egyptian Movement for Change]], popularly known as ''Kefaya'', was launched to oppose the [[Mubarak regime]] and to establish democratic reforms and greater [[civil liberties]] in Egypt.

==Geography==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{original research|section|date=September 2023}}
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2023}}
}}
{{main|Geography of the Arab world}}
The Arab World stretches across more than {{convert|13000000|km2}}{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} of [[North Africa]] and the part of North-East Africa and South-West Asia. The eastern part of the Arab world is called the ''[[Mashriq]]''. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania are the ''[[Maghreb]]'' or ''Maghrib''.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}
[[File:Magrib.png|thumb|right|The ''[[Maghreb]]'' (Western Arab world)]]
The term "Arab" often connotes{{according to whom|date=September 2023}} the Arabian Peninsula, but the larger (and more populous) part of the Arab World is North Africa. Its eight million square kilometers include two of the largest countries of the African continent, [[Algeria]] (2.4&nbsp;million km<sup>2</sup>) in the center of the region and [[Sudan]] (1.9&nbsp;million km<sup>2</sup>) in the southeast.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} Algeria is about three-quarters the size of [[India]], or about one-and-a-half times the size of [[Alaska]], the largest state in the United States. The largest country in the Arab West Asia is [[Saudi Arabia]] (2&nbsp;million km<sup>2</sup>).{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

At the other extreme, the smallest autonomous mainland Arab country is [[Lebanon]] (10,452&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), and the smallest island Arab country is [[Bahrain]] (665&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>).{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Every Arab country borders a sea or ocean, with the exception of the Arab region of northern Chad, which is completely landlocked.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023|reason=Who says northern Chad is part of the "Arab world"?}} Iraq is actually nearly landlocked, as it has only a very narrow access to the Persian Gulf.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

===Historical boundaries===
The political borders of the Arab world have wandered, leaving Arab minorities in non-Arab countries of the [[Sahel]] and the [[Horn of Africa]] as well as in the Middle Eastern countries of [[Cyprus]], [[Turkey]] and [[Iran]], and also leaving non-Arab minorities in Arab countries. However, the basic geography of sea, desert and mountain provides the enduring natural boundaries for this region.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}
[[File:Age-of-caliphs-xtra-space.png|thumb|Map of the [[caliphate]]'s expansion {{legend|#a1584e|Expansion under [[Muhammad]], 622–632}} {{legend|#ef9070|Expansion during the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], 632–661}} {{legend|#fad07d|Expansion during the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], 661–750}}]]
The Arab world straddles two continents, Africa and Asia. It is mainly oriented along an east–west axis.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

The West Asian Arab region comprises the [[Arabian Peninsula]], most of the [[Levant]] (excluding Cyprus and Israel), most of Mesopotamia (excluding parts of Turkey and Iran) and the Persian Gulf region. The peninsula is roughly a tilted rectangle that leans back against the slope of northeast Africa, the long axis pointing toward [[Turkey]] and [[Europe]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Arab North Africa comprises the entire northern third of the continent. It is surrounded by water on three sides (west, north, and east) and desert or desert scrubland on the fourth (south).{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

In the west, it is bounded by the shores of the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. From northeast to southwest, [[Morocco]], [[Western Sahara]] ([[Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara|mostly]] unilaterally [[annexation|annexed]] by Morocco), and [[Mauritania]] make up the roughly 2,000 kilometers of Arab Atlantic coastline. The southwestern sweep of the coast is gentle but substantial, such that Mauritania's capital, [[Nouakchott]] (18°N, 16°W), is far enough west to share longitude with [[Iceland]] (13–22°W). Nouakchott is the westernmost capital of the Arab World and the third-westernmost in Africa, and sits on the Atlantic fringe of the southwestern Sahara. Next south along the coast from Mauritania is [[Senegal]], whose abrupt border belies the gradient in culture from Arab to indigenous African that historically characterizes this part of [[West Africa]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Arab Africa's boundary to the north is again a continental boundary, the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. This boundary begins in the west with the narrow [[Strait of Gibraltar]], the thirteen kilometer wide channel that connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic to the west, and separates Morocco from [[Spain]] to the north. East along the coast from Morocco are Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, followed by Egypt, which forms the region's, and the continent's, northeastern corner. The coast turns briefly but sharply south at Tunisia, slopes more gently southeastward through the Libyan capital of [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]], and bumps north through Libya's second city, [[Benghazi]], before turning straight east again through Egypt's second city, [[Alexandria]], at the mouth of the Nile. Along with the spine of [[Italy]] to its north, Tunisia marks the junction of western and eastern Mediterranean, and a cultural transition as well: west of Egypt begins the region of the Arab World known as the [[Maghreb]] include (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania).{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Historically the 4,000-kilometer Mediterranean boundary has fluttered. Population centers north of it in [[Europe]] have invited contact and Arab exploration—mostly friendly, though sometimes not. Islands and peninsulas near the Arab coast have changed hands. The islands of [[Sicily]] and [[Malta]] lie just a hundred kilometers east of the Tunisian city of [[Carthage]], which has been a point of contact with Europe since its founding in the first millennium BCE; both Sicily and Malta at times have been part of the Arab World. Just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco, regions of the Iberian peninsula were part of the Arab World throughout the [[Middle Ages]], extending the northern boundary at times to the foothills of the [[Pyrenees]] and leaving a substantial mark on local and wider European and Western culture.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

The northern boundary of the African Arab world has also fluttered briefly in the other direction, first through the [[Crusades]] and later through the imperial involvement of [[France]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[Spain]], and [[Italy]]. Another visitor from northern shores, [[Turkey]], controlled the east of the region for centuries, though not as a colonizer. Spain still maintains two small enclaves, [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]] (called "Morocco Espanol"), along the otherwise Moroccan coast. Overall this wave has ebbed, though like the Arab expansion north it has left its mark. The proximity of North Africa to Europe has always encouraged interaction, and this continues with Arab immigration to Europe and European interest in the Arab countries today. However, population centers and the physical fact of the sea keeps this boundary of the Arab World settled on the Mediterranean coastline.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

To the east, the [[Red Sea]] defines the boundary between [[Africa]] and [[Asia]], and thus also between Arab Africa and Arab West Asia. This sea is a long and narrow waterway with a northwest tilt, stretching 2,300 kilometers from [[Egypt]]'s [[Sinai peninsula]] southeast to the [[Bab-el-Mandeb]] strait between [[Djibouti]] in Africa and [[Yemen]] in Arabia but on average just 150 kilometers wide. Though the sea is navigable along its length, historically much contact between Arab Africa and Arab West Asia has been either overland across the Sinai or by sea across the Mediterranean or the narrow Bab al Mendeb strait. From northwest to southeast, Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea form the African coastline, with Djibouti marking Bab al Mendeb's African shore.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Southeast along the coast from Djibouti is Somalia, but the Somali coast soon makes a 90-degree turn and heads northeast, mirroring a bend in the coast of Yemen across the water to the north and defining the south coast of the Gulf of Aden. The Somali coast then takes a hairpin turn back southwest to complete the horn of Africa. For six months of the year the [[monsoon]] winds blow from up equatorial Somalia, past Arabia and over the small Yemeni archipelago of [[Socotra]], to rain on [[India]]. They then switch directions and blow back.

The east- and especially southeast-coast boundary of Arab Africa has historically been a gateway for maritime trade and cultural exchange with both [[East Africa]] and the subcontinent. The trade winds help explain the presence of the Comoros islands, an Arab-African country, off the coast of [[Mozambique]], near [[Madagascar]] in the [[Indian Ocean]], the southernmost part of the Arab World.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

The southern boundary of Arab North Africa is the strip of scrubland known as the [[Sahel]] that crosses the continent south of the Sahara.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

==States and territories==
For the states and territories constituting the Arab world, see definition above.

===Forms of government===
[[File:Arab_League_Summit,_1964.jpg|thumb|Arab leaders during the [[1964 Arab League summit (Cairo)|first Arab league summit in Cairo (1964)]]]]
Different forms of [[government]] are represented in the Arab World: Some of the countries are [[monarchy|monarchies]]: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The other Arab countries are all [[republic]]s. With the exception of Lebanon, Tunisia, Iraq, Palestine, and recently{{When|date=July 2023}} Mauritania, democratic elections throughout the Arab World are generally viewed as compromised, due to outright vote rigging, intimidation of opposition parties, and severe restraints on civil liberties and political dissent.

After [[World War II]], [[Pan-Arabism]] sought to unite all Arabic-speaking countries into one political entity. Only [[Syria]], [[Iraq]], [[Egypt]], [[Sudan]], [[Tunisia]], [[Libya]] and [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen|North Yemen]] considered the short-lived unification of the [[United Arab Republic]]. Historical divisions, competing local nationalisms, and geographical sprawl were major reasons for the failure of Pan-Arabism. [[Arab Nationalism]] was another strong force in the region which peaked during the mid-20th century and was professed by many leaders in Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Syria, and Iraq. Arab Nationalist leaders of this period included [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] of Egypt, [[Ahmed Ben Bella]] of Algeria, [[Michel Aflaq]], [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]], [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]], [[Constantin Zureiq]] and [[Shukri al-Kuwatli]] of Syria, [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] of Iraq, [[Habib Bourguiba]] of Tunisia, [[Mehdi Ben Barka]] of Morocco, and [[Shakib Arslan]] of Lebanon.

Later and current Arab Nationalist leaders include [[Muammar al-Gaddafi]] of Libya, [[Hafez al-Assad]] and [[Bashar al-Assad]] of Syria. The diverse Arab states generally maintained close ties but distinct national identities developed and strengthened with the social, historical and political realities of the past 60 years. This has made the idea of a pan-Arab nation-state increasingly less feasible and likely. Additionally, an upsurge in political Islam has since led to a greater emphasis on pan-Islamic rather than pan-Arab identity amongst some [[Arab Muslims]]<!-- and/or non-Arab Muslims too? -->. Arab nationalists who once opposed Islamic movements as a threat to their power, now deal with them differently for reasons of political reality.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arab Nationalism: Mistaken Identity by Martin Kramer |url=http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/ArabNationalism.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025064830/http://geocities.com/martinkramerorg/ArabNationalism.htm |archive-date=25 October 2009 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

===Modern boundaries===
Many of the modern borders of the Arab World were drawn by [[Europe]]an imperial powers during the 19th and early 20th century. However, some of the larger states (in particular [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]]) have historically maintained geographically definable boundaries, on which some of the modern states are roughly based. The 14th-century Egyptian historian [[Al-Maqrizi]], for instance, defines Egypt's boundaries as extending from the [[Mediterranean]] in the north to lower [[Nubia]] in the south; and between the [[Red Sea]] in the east and the oases of the Western/[[Libyan desert]]. The modern borders of Egypt, therefore, are not a creation of European powers, and are at least in part based on historically definable entities which are in turn based on certain cultural and ethnic identifications.

At other times, kings, [[emir]]s or [[sheikh]]s were placed as semi-autonomous rulers over the newly created [[nation state]]s, usually chosen by the same imperial powers that for some drew the new borders, for services rendered to European powers like [[the British Empire]], e.g. [[Sherif Hussein ibn Ali]]. Many African states did not attain independence until the 1960s from France after bloody insurgencies for their freedom. These struggles were settled by the imperial powers approving the form of independence given, so as a consequence almost all of these borders have remained. Some of these borders were agreed upon without consultation of those individuals that had served the colonial interests of Britain or France. One such agreement solely between Britain and France (to the exclusion of Sherif Hussein ibn Ali), signed in total secrecy until [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] released the full text, was the [[Sykes-Picot Agreement]]. Another influential document written without the consensus of the local population was the [[Balfour Declaration]].

As former director of the Israeli intelligence agency [[Mossad]], Efraim Halevy, now a director at the Hebrew University said,

{{blockquote|The borders, which if you look on the maps of the middle-east are very straight lines, were drawn by British and French draftsmen who sat with maps and drew the lines of the frontiers with rulers. If the ruler for some reason or other moved on the map, because of some person's hand shaking, then the frontier moved (with the hand).<ref name="lawac2004">{{cite web |url=http://www.lawac.org/speech/2004-05/Halevy%202005.pdf |url-status=dead |date=16 April 2015 |title=Winds of Change in the Middle East |last=Halevy |first=Efraim |publisher=Los Angeles World Affairs Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206212247/http://www.lawac.org/speech/2004-05/Halevy%202005.pdf |archive-date=6 December 2010 }}</ref>}}

He went on to give an example,
{{blockquote|There was a famous story about a British consul, a lady named [[Gertrude Bell]] who drew the map between Iraq and Jordan, using transparent paper. She turned to talk to somebody and as she was turning the paper moved and the ruler moved and that added considerable territory to the (new) Jordanians.<ref name="lawac2004"/>}}

Historian Jim Crow, of [[Newcastle University]], has said:

{{blockquote|Without that imperial carve-up, Iraq would not be in the state it is in today...Gertrude Bell was one of two or three Britons who were instrumental in the creation of the Arab states in the Middle East that were favourable to Britain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sundayherald.com/31563 |date=3 January 2016 |title=Games With Frontiers |work=Sunday Herald |last=Royle |first=Trevor |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030307134402/http://www.sundayherald.com/31563 |archive-date=7 March 2003 |df=dmy }}</ref>}}

===Modern economies===
[[File:Cairo-Nile-2020(1).jpg|alt=Cairo-Nile-2020(1)|thumb|[[Cairo]], the capital of [[Egypt]]]]
As of 2006, the Arab world accounts for two-fifths of the gross domestic product and three-fifths of the trade of the wider [[Muslim world]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

The Arab states are mostly, although not exclusively, developing economies and derive their export revenues from oil and gas, or the sale of other raw materials. Recent years have seen significant economic growth in the Arab World, due largely to an increase in oil and gas prices, which tripled between 2001 and 2006, but also due to efforts by some states to diversify their economic base. Industrial production has risen, for example the amount of steel produced between 2004 and 2005 rose from 8.4 to 19 million tonnes. (Source: Opening speech of Mahmoud Khoudri, [[Algeria]]'s Industry Minister, at the 37th General Assembly of the Iron & Steel Arab Union, Algiers, May 2006). However even 19 million tons pa still only represents 1.7% of global steel production, and remains inferior to the production of countries like [[Brazil]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldsteel.org |title=World Steel Association – Home |publisher=Worldsteel.org |access-date=17 October 2011}}</ref>

The main economic organisations in the Arab World are the [[Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)]], comprising the states in the Persian Gulf, and the Union of the Arab Maghreb (UMA), made up of North African States. The GCC has achieved some success in financial and monetary terms, including plans to establish a common currency in the Persian Gulf region. Since its foundation in 1989, the UMA's most significant accomplishment has been the establishment of a 7,000&nbsp;km highway crossing North Africa from [[Mauritania]] to [[Libya]]'s border with [[Egypt]]. The central stretch of the highway, expected to be completed in 2010, will cross [[Morocco]], [[Algeria]] and [[Tunisia]]. In recent years a new term has been coined to define a greater economic region: the [[MENA]] region, standing for "Middle East and North Africa", is becoming increasingly popular, especially with support from the current US administration.[[File:Dubai Marina Skyline.jpg|thumb|The [[Emirate of Dubai]] is one of the seven emirates of the [[United Arab Emirates]]]]As of August 2009 it was reported that Saudi Arabia is the strongest Arab economy according to World Bank.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.infoprod.co.il/article/2/283|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130182205/http://www.infoprod.co.il/article/2/283|url-status=dead|title=World Bank: Saudi Arabia, strongest Arab economy|archive-date=30 November 2009}}</ref>

[[Saudi Arabia]] remains the top Arab economy in terms of total GDP. It is Asia's eleventh largest economy, followed by [[Egypt]] and [[Algeria]], which were the second and third largest economies in Africa, after [[South Africa]], in 2006. In terms of GDP per capita, [[Qatar]] is the richest developing country in the world.<ref>CIA [[World Factbook]], GDP by country classification</ref>

The total GDP of all Arab countries in 1999 was US$531.2&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{Cite book |last = Lewis |first = Bernard |author-link = Bernard Lewis |title = The Crisis of Islam |publisher = [[Random House]] |year = 2004 |location = New York City |page = [https://archive.org/details/crisisofislam00bern/page/116 116] |isbn = 978-0-8129-6785-2 |title-link = The Crisis of Islam }}</ref> The total Arab world GDP was estimated to be worth at least $2.8&nbsp;trillion in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/05/147980.html |title=Poking at the Beast: How much is the Arab world worth? |work=Alarabiya News |last=El-Shenawi |first=Eman |date=5 May 2011 |access-date=19 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511195256/http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/05/147980.html |archive-date=11 May 2011 }}</ref> This is only smaller than the GDP of the US, China, Japan and Germany.

==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of the Arab world}}
In the Arab world, [[Modern Standard Arabic]], derived from [[Classical Arabic]] (symptomatic of Arabic [[diglossia]]), serves as an official language in the Arab League states, and [[varieties of Arabic|Arabic dialects]] are used as lingua franca. Various indigenous languages are also spoken, which predate the spread of the Arabic language. This contrasts with the situation in the wider [[Islamic world]], where, in contiguous Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the [[Perso-Arabic script]] is used and Arabic is the primary liturgical language, but the tongue is not official at the state level or spoken as a [[vernacular]]. [[Arabs]] constitute around one quarter of the 1.5 billion [[Muslim]]s in the Islamic world.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Many Muslims Are There in the World?|url=http://islam.about.com/od/muslimcountries/a/population.htm|website=About.com Religion & Spirituality|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226143553/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1809?_hi=1&_pos=1%20|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Largest cities===
{{Main|List of largest cities in the Arab world}}
Table of largest cities in the Arab world by official [[city proper]]s:<ref>{{cite web|title=Demographia World Urban Areas|url=http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf|publisher=Demographia|access-date=20 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040330085700/http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf|archive-date=30 March 2004|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Rank
!Country
!City
!Population
!Founding date
!Image
|-
| 1
| {{Flag|Egypt}}
| [[Cairo]]
| 22,623,874
| 968 [[Common Era|CE]]
| [[File:مصر العظيمة.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 2
| {{Flag|Iraq}}
| [[Baghdad]]
| 8,126,755
| 762 CE<ref>{{cite book|last=Corzine|first=Phyllis|title=The Islamic Empire|year=2005|publisher=Thomson Gale|pages=68–69}}</ref>
| [[File:5628442718 b10fc2c47f o.jpg|150x150px]]
|-
| 3
 |{{Flag|Saudi Arabia}}
|[[Riyadh]]
| 7,676,654
| 1746 CE<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Impact of Planning on Growth and Development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1970-1990 |author1= Saud Al-Oteibi |author2=Allen G. Noble |author3=Frank J. Costa |journal= GeoJournal |volume=29 |date=February 1993|issue= 2 |page= 163 |doi= 10.1007/BF00812813 |bibcode= 1993GeoJo..29..163A }}</ref>
|[[File:Masmak castle.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 4
| {{Flag|Egypt}}
| [[Alexandria]]
| 5,381,000
| 332 BCE<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Alexandria |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |last=Reimer |first=Michael |date=2016 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Alexandria-Egypt}}</ref>
| [[File:Citadel of Qaitbay - Sea View.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 5
| {{Flag|Jordan}}
| [[Amman]]
| 4,642,000
| 7250 [[BCE]]<ref name="Docslide">{{cite web|url=https://docslide.us/documents/prehistoric-settlements-of-the-middle-east.html|title=Prehistoric Settlements of the Middle East|access-date=12 October 2018|archive-date=17 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617132924/https://docslide.us/documents/prehistoric-settlements-of-the-middle-east.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_testament.html|access-date=2015-10-10|title=The Old Testament Kingdoms of Jordan|work=kinghussein.gov.jo}}</ref>
| [[File:New_Abdali_2024.png|150px]]
|-
| 6
| {{Flag|Algeria}}
| [[Algiers]]
| 4,515,000
| 944 CE<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Algiers |volume=24 |pages=653&ndash;655}}</ref>
|[[File:Alger Grande-Poste IMG 0875.JPG|150x150px]]
|-
| 7
| {{Flag|Saudi Arabia}}
| [[Jeddah]]
| 4,276,000
| 522 [[BCE]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.okaz.com.sa/okaz/osf/20060510/Con2006051016179.htm |title=صحيفة عكاظ - جدة اليوم.. والعم وهيب |publisher=Okaz.com.sa |access-date=2011-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234958/http://www.okaz.com.sa/okaz/osf/20060510/Con2006051016179.htm |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| [[File:Historical Jeddah.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 8
| {{Flag|Morocco}}
| [[Casablanca]]
| 3,359,818
| 7th century<ref name=JVL>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/casablanca-morocco-jewish-history-tour |title=Virtual Jewish World: Casablanca, Morocco |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=17 April 2011}}</ref>
| [[File:Old Medina, Casablanca, a view from United Nations square.JPG|150px]]
|-
| 9
| {{Flag|Yemen}}
| [[Sana'a]]
| 3,292,497<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sanaa Population 2023 |url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/sanaa-population |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=worldpopulationreview.com}}</ref>
| ~500 BCE (possibly earlier)<ref name="EB">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Sana |volume=24 |pages=125&ndash;126}}</ref>
| [[File:Sana'a, Yemen (14667934933).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 10
| {{Flag|United Arab Emirates}}
| [[Dubai]]
| 3,287,007
| 1833 CE<ref>{{cite web|title=تاريخ دبي|url=http://www.dubai.ae/ar/aboutdubai/Pages/DubaiHistory.aspx|website=حكومة دبي|access-date=9 April 2018}}</ref>
| [[File:DubaiSkyline.JPG|150x150px]]
|}

===Religion===
{{Update|type=section|date=June 2019|reason=Relating to the Arab world survey conducted by the BBC. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48703377)}}
[[File:Eid in Morocco.JPG|thumb|[[Eid al-Fitr]] mass prayer in [[Morocco]]]]
[[File:Orthodox_Easter_celebrations_in_As-Suwayda.jpg|thumb|[[Easter]] celebrations in Syria]]
The majority of people in the Arab world adhere to [[Islam]], and the religion has official status in most countries. [[Shariah]] law exists partially in the legal system in some countries (especially in the [[Arabian Peninsula]]), while others are legislatively [[secularism|secular]]. The majority of the Arab countries adhere to [[Sunni Islam]]. [[Iraq]] and [[Bahrain]], however, are [[Shia Islam|Shia]] majority countries, while [[Lebanon]], [[Yemen]], and [[Kuwait]] have large Shia minorities. In [[Saudi Arabia]], Ismailite pockets are also found in the eastern Al-Hasa region and the southern city of Najran. [[Ibadi]] Islam is practiced in [[Oman]], where Ibadis constitute around 75% of Muslims.

There are also [[Christianity|Christian]] adherents in the Arab world, particularly in [[Egypt]], [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Iraq]], [[Jordan]], and [[Palestine]]. Small native Christian communities can be found also throughout the [[Arabian Peninsula]] and [[North Africa]].<ref name="PharesIntro">*{{cite web|first=Walid|last=Phares|author-link=Walid Phares|url=https://www.arabicbible.com/for-christians/christians/1396-arab-christians-introduction.html|title=Arab Christians: An Introduction|publisher=Arabic Bible Outreach Ministry|year=2001}}
* {{cite web|title=Majority and Minorities in the Arab World: The Lack of a Unifying Narrative|url=http://jcpa.org/article/majority-and-minorities-in-the-arab-world-the-lack-of-a-unifying-narrative/|website=Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs}}</ref> [[Coptic Church|Coptic]], [[Maronite Church|Maronite]] and [[Assyrian Christian]] enclaves exist in the Nile Valley, Levant and northern Iraq respectively. There are also [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]], [[Armenians|Armenian]] and [[Arab Christians]] throughout Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, with [[Arameans|Aramean]] communities in [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb'adin]] in Syria. There are also native Arab Christian communities in Algeria,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/eoir/file/826846/download|title=Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada|date=30 June 2015|publisher=Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada|quote=there is an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 evangelical Christians in Algeria, who practice their faith in mainly unregistered churches in the Kabyle region|access-date=17 January 2022|archive-date=15 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715132018/https://www.justice.gov/eoir/file/826846/download|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bahrain,<ref name="2010Census">{{cite web|url=http://www.census2010.gov.bh/results_en.php|title=2010 Census Results|access-date=15 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320104234/http://www.census2010.gov.bh/results_en.php|archive-date=20 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Morocco,<ref>{{cite book|title=Al-Maghred, the Barbary Lion: A Look at Islam| first=Nat |last= Carnes|year= 2012| isbn= 9781475903423| page =253|publisher=University of Cambridge Press|quote=. In all an estimated 40,000 Moroccans have converted to Christianity}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/house-churches-and-silent-masses-the-converted-christians-of-morocco-are-praying-in-secret/|title='House-Churches' and Silent Masses —The Converted Christians of Morocco Are Praying in Secret – VICE News|date=23 March 2015|quote=Converted Moroccans — most of them secret worshippers, of whom there are estimated to be anywhere between 5,000 and 40,000 —}}</ref> Kuwait<ref name="num">{{cite web|last=Sharaf|first=Nihal|year=2012|title='Christians Enjoy Religious Freedom': Church-State ties excellent|url=http://www.arabtimesonline.com/RSS/tabid/69/smid/414/ArticleID/147658/Default.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402125518/http://www.arabtimesonline.com/RSS/tabid/69/smid/414/ArticleID/147658/Default.aspx|archive-date=2 April 2015|work=Arabia Times}}</ref> and Tunisia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Religion and Contemporary Politics: A Global Encyclopedia [2 volumes]| first=Jeffrey M.|last=Shaw |year= 2019| isbn= 9781440839337| page =200|publisher=ABC-CLIO|quote=}}</ref>

Smaller ethno-religious minorities across the Arab League include the [[Yezidis]], [[Yarsan]] and [[Shabak people|Shabaks]] (mainly in Iraq), the [[Druze]]s (mainly in Syria and also in Lebanon, Jordan)<ref>{{cite book|title=Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics| first=Colbert C. |last= Held|year= 2008| isbn= 9780429962004| page =109|publisher=Routledge|quote= Worldwide, they number 1 million or so, with about 45 to 50 percent in Syria, 35 to 40 percent in Lebanon, and less than 10 percent in Israel. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.}}</ref> and [[Mandaeans]] (in Iraq). Formerly, there were significant minorities of [[Jews]] throughout the Arab World. However, the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]] prompted their mass [[Jewish exodus from Arab countries|exodus]] between 1948 and 1972. Today small Jewish communities remain, ranging anywhere from just 10 in [[Bahrain]], to more than 400 in Iraq and Syria, 1,000 in [[Tunisia]] and some 3,000 in [[Morocco]].

===Education===
{{Main|Higher education in the Arab world}}
[[File:Girls lining up for class - Flickr - Al Jazeera English.jpg|thumb|[[Palestinians|Palestinian]] schoolgirls in [[Gaza City|Gaza]] lining up for class, 2009]]
According to [[UNESCO]], the average rate of [[adult literacy]] (ages 15 and older) in this region [[List of countries by literacy rate|is 78%]]. In Mauritania the rate is lower than the average, at less than 50%. [[Bahrain]], [[Palestine]], [[Kuwait]], [[Qatar]],  and [[Jordan]] record a high adult literacy rate of over 95%.<ref>{{cite report |author=Global Education Monitoring Report Team |date=2015 |title=Regional overview: Arab States |url= https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232576|publisher=UNESCO |page= |docket= ED/EFA/MRT/2015/RO/02 REV 2|access-date=23 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref> The average rate of adult literacy shows steady improvement, and the absolute number of adult illiterates fell from 64 million to around 58&nbsp;million between 1990 and 2000–2004.<ref name="UNESCO2007">{{cite web|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001489/148972E.pdf | title=Regional overview: Arab States | publisher=UNESCO | year=2007 | access-date=6 April 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605065202/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001489/148972E.pdf | archive-date=5 June 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Overall, the gender disparity in adult literacy is high in this region, and of the illiteracy rate, women account for two-thirds, with only 69 literate women for every 100 literate men. The average GPI (Gender Parity Index) for adult literacy is 0.72, and gender disparity can be observed in Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen. Above all, the GPI of Yemen is only 0.46 in a 53% adult literacy rate.<ref name="UNESCO2007"/>

Literacy rate is higher among the [[Youth in the Arab world|youth]] than adults. Youth literacy rate (ages 15–24) in the Arab region increased from 63.9 to 76.3% from 1990 to 2002. The average rate of [[Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC)|GCC states]] was 94%, followed by the [[Maghreb]] at 83.2% and the [[Mashriq]] at 73.6%.<ref>{{cite web |title=السعودية ترحب بتقرير اللجنة الوطنية اليمنية |url=http://arabwindow.net/cat/gulf/ |website=arabwindow.net |access-date=11 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161004140510/http://arabwindow.net/cat/gulf/ |archive-date=4 October 2016 |language=ar |date=4 October 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[United Nations]] published an [[Arab human development report]] in 2002, 2003 and 2004. These reports, written by researchers from the Arab world, address some sensitive issues in the development of Arab countries: women empowerment, availability of education and information among others.

===Gender equality and women's rights===
{{Main|Women in the Arab world}}
[[File:International Women's Day in Egypt - Flickr - Al Jazeera English (97).jpg|thumb|A women's rights protest in [[Egypt]], 2011]]
[[Women in the Arab world]] are still denied [[gender equality|equality of opportunity]], although their disenfranchisement is a critical factor crippling the Arab nations' quest to return to the first rank of global leaders in commerce, learning and culture, according to a [[United Nations]]-sponsored report in 2008.<ref>[http://www.e-joussour.net/en/node/1511 Gender equality in Arab world critical for progress and prosperity, UN report warns] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906120412/http://www.e-joussour.net/en/node/1511 |date=6 September 2015 }}, E-joussour (21 October 2008)</ref>

===Film industry===
{{Main|Arab cinema}}
There is no single description of [[Arab cinema]] since it includes films from various countries and cultures of the Arab world and therefore does not have one form, structure, or style.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Ghareeb|first=Shirin|date=September 1997|title=An overview of Arab cinema|journal=Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies|volume=6|issue=11|pages=119–127|doi=10.1080/10669929708720114|issn=1066-9922}}</ref> In its inception, Arab cinema was mostly an imitation of Western cinema. However, it has and continues to constantly change and evolve.<ref name=":7" /> It mostly includes films made in [[Egypt]], [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], [[Iraq]], [[Kuwait]], [[Algeria]], [[Morocco]], and [[Tunisia]].<ref name=":7" /> Egypt is a pioneer in the field,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Elgamal|first=Amal|date=2014-04-03|title=Cinema and its image|journal=Contemporary Arab Affairs|volume=7|issue=2|pages=225–245|doi=10.1080/17550912.2014.918320|issn=1755-0912}}</ref> but each country in the region has its own unique cinema.<ref name=":7" />

Elsewhere in [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]], film production was scarce until the late 1960s and early 1970s when filmmakers began to receive funding and financial assistance from state organizations.<ref name=":7" /> This was during the post-independence and is when most Arab cinema took root.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=Roots of the New Arab Film|last=Armes|first=Roy|date=2018-03-08|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253031730|doi = 10.2307/j.ctt22p7j4k}}</ref> Most films produced at that time were funded by the state and contained a nationalistic dimension. These films helped to advance certain social causes such as independence, and other social, economic and political agendas.<ref name=":6" />

A sustained film industry was able to emerge in [[Egypt]] when other parts of the Arab world had only been able to sporadically produce feature-length films due to limited financing.<ref name=":7" />

Arabic cinema is dominated by films from [[Egypt]]. Three quarters of all Arab movies are produced in Egypt.  According to film critic and historian Roy Armes, the [[cinema of Lebanon]] is the only other in the Arabic-speaking region, beside Egypt's, that could amount to a national cinema.<ref name="Armes, Roy page 26">Armes, Roy. ''Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East: a Dictionary'', page 26</ref>

While Egyptian and Lebanese cinema have a long history of production, most other Arab countries did not witness film production until after independence, and even today, the majority of film production in countries like Bahrain, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates is limited to television or short films.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|last=Shafik|first=Viola|title=Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MSPTF7wPv_QC|access-date=2 February 2013|year=2007|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=978-977-416-065-3}}</ref>

There is increased interest in films originating in the Arab world. For example, films from [[Cinema of Algeria|Algeria]], [[Cinema of Lebanon|Lebanon]], [[Cinema of Morocco|Morocco]], [[Cinema of Palestine|Palestine]], [[Cinema of Syria|Syria]] and [[Cinema of Tunisia|Tunisia]] are making wider and more frequent rounds than ever before in local film festivals and repertoire theaters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2501/is_1-2_27/ai_n15694703|title=FindArticles.com {{!}} CBSi|via=Find Articles|access-date=5 February 2018}}</ref>

Arab cinema has explored many topics from politics, colonialism, tradition, modernity and social taboos.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Hennebelle|first=Guy|date=November 1976|title=Arab Cinema|journal=MERIP Reports|issue=52|pages=4–12|doi=10.2307/3010963|jstor=3010963|issn=0047-7265}}</ref> It has also attempted to escape from its earlier tendency to mimic and rely on Western film devices.<ref name=":5" /> In fact, colonization did not only influence Arab films, but it also had an impact on Arab movies theaters.<ref name=":10">{{cite book|last1=Shafik|first1=Viola|title=Arab cinema : history and cultural identity|date=2007|publisher=The American University in Cairo Press|location=Cairo, Egypt|isbn=978-9774160653|edition=New rev.}}</ref> Apart from the history of Arab cinema, recently the portrayal of women became an important aspect in the production of Arab cinema. Arab women shaped a great portion of the film industry in the Arab world by employing their cinematic talents in improving the production of Arab films.<ref name=":10" />

The production of Arab cinema has declined in the last decades and many filmmakers in the [[Middle East]] gathered to hold a meeting and discuss the current state of Arab cinema.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Asfour|first=Nana|title=The Politics of Arab Cinema: Middle Eastern Filmmakers Face up to Their Reality|year=2000|journal=Cinéaste|volume=26|issue=1|pages=46–48|issn=0009-7004|jstor=41689317}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|World}}
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Middle East and North Africa]] (MENA)
* [[List of Arab League countries by population]]
* [[Arabic language influence on the Spanish language]]
* [[Arab League]]
* [[International Association of Arabic Dialectology]]
* [[List of countries and territories where Arabic is an official language]]
* [[List of Muslim states and dynasties]]
* [[Islamic world]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
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* {{Cite book | last = Deng | first = Francis Mading | author-link = Francis Deng| title = War of visions: Conflict of identities in the Sudan | publisher = [[The Brookings Institution]] | year = 1995 | location = [[Washington, D.C.]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iAPLHidx8MkC| isbn = 0-8157-1794-6 }}
* {{Cite book | last = Frishkopf | first = Michael| contribution = Introduction: Music and media in the Arab world and ''Music and media in the Arab world'' as music and media in the Arab world: A metadiscourse | title = Music and media in the Arab world | editor-last = Frishkopf | editor-first = Michael | publisher = [[The American University in Cairo Press]] | year = 2010 | location = [[Cairo]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KANOAYzkhA8C| isbn = 978-977-416-293-0}}
* [[Albert Hourani|Hourani, Albert Habib]] (1991). ''A History of the Arab Peoples.'' Cambridge, Mass.: Warner Books. {{ISBN|978-0-674-39565-7}}.
* {{Cite book | last = Kronholm | first = Tryggve | contribution = Arab culture: Reality or fiction? | title = The Middle East: Unity and diversity: Papers from the second Nordic conference on Middle Eastern studies | editor1-last = Palva | editor1-first = Heikki | editor2-last = Vikør | editor2-first = Knut S. | publisher = Nordic Institute of Asian Studies | series = Nordic proceedings in Asian studies | volume = 5 | year = 1993 | location = [[Copenhagen]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aluD22J9SG8C | isbn = 87-87062-24-0}}
* Reader, John (1997). ''Africa: A Biography of the Continent.'' New York: Vintage. {{ISBN|978-0-679-40979-3}}.
* {{Cite book | last = Rejwan | first = Nissim| title = Nasserist ideology: its exponents and critics | publisher = Halsted Press| year = 1974 | location = [[New York City|New York]]| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AkQDAxVwaOEC| isbn = 0-470-71628-2}}
* {{Cite book | last = Rinnawi | first = Khalil| title = Instant nationalism: McArabism, al-Jazeera and transnational media in the Arab world | publisher = [[University Press of America]] | year = 2006 | location = [[Lanham, Maryland]]| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xJYLNUBgSeUC | isbn = 978-0-7618-3439-7 }}
* {{Cite book | editor1-last = Sullivan | editor1-first = Earl L. | editor2-last = Ismael | editor2-first = Jacqueline S.| contribution = Preface | title = The contemporary study of the Arab world | publisher = The [[University of Alberta Press]]| year = 1991 | location = [[Edmonton]], [[Alberta]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YTkHGis-yYEC | isbn = 0-88864-211-3}}
* [[Charles Saint-Prot|Saint-Prot, Charles]] (2003). ''French Policy toward the Arab World''. Abu Dhabi: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research. {{ISBN|978-9948-00-336-6}}.

==Further reading==
* Ajl, Max. ''[http://monthlyreview.org/2016/09/01/imperialism-and-class-in-the-arab-world/ Imperialism and Class in the Arab World]'' (September 2016), [[Monthly Review]] 
* Ayalon, Amy (1987). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pc_wVEdT9QUC&q=Arabic+English+thirsty Language and change in the Arab Middle East: the evolution of modern political discourse Studies in Middle Eastern history]''. [[Oxford University Press US]]. {{ISBN|978-0-19-504140-8}}.
* Hourani, Albert (1983). ''Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939''. Rev., with a new preface. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press. x, 406 p. {{ISBN|0-521-27423-0}} pbk.
* Tausch, Arno. ''A Look at International Survey Data About Arab Opinion'' (31 January 2014). "A look at recent (2013) international survey data about Arab opinion", Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Fall 2013), 57–74. {{ssrn|2388627}}
* {{Cite book | last=Tausch | first=Arno | author-link=Arno Tausch | title=The political algebra of global value change: General models and implications for the Muslim world, with Almas Heshmati and Hichem Karoui. |publisher=Nova Science Publishers, New York|year=2015 | edition=1st | isbn=978-1-62948-899-8}}

==External links==
* [http://www.arableagueonline.org/ Arab League Online]
* [http://www.infosamak.org/english/countries.cfm INFOSAMAK – Arab world]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140207131308/http://www.arabland.com/dir/ ArabLand.com] — Directories of all Arab world countries
* [http://www.araboo.com/ Araboo.com] — Arab world directory
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150723010825/http://www.al-hakawati.net/english/states/index.asp Arab countries information]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140807034239/http://www.winarab.net/ WinArab] — Arab articles
* [http://www.carboun.com/ Carboun] Information and resources relating to energy, environment, and sustainability in the Arab world
* {{wikivoyage inline}}

{{Geographical distribution of languages}}
{{Arab nationalism}}
{{Ottoman Empire by modern countries}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Arab world| ]]
[[Category:Country classifications]]
[[Category:Cultural regions]]
[[Category:Horn of Africa]]
[[Category:Middle East]]
[[Category:North Africa]]
[[Category:West Asia]]
[[Category:Arabic language]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:Eastern culture]]