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The Arab world (Arabic: العالم العربي‎ 'al-ʿālam al-ʿarabī'; formally: Arab homeland, الوطن العربي 'al-waṭan al-ʿarabī'), also known as the Arab nation (الأمة العربية 'al-ummah al-ʿarabīyyah') or the Arab states,currently consists of the 22 Arab countries of the Arab League. These Arab states occupy an area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast.The contemporary Arab world has a combined population of around 422 million inhabitants, over half of whom are under 25 years of age.

In the Middle Ages, the Arab world was synonymous with the historic Arab empires and caliphates. Arab nationalism arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other 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 political unification of the Arab countries; a project known as Pan-Arabism.

Contents[edit]

Definition[edit]

The linguistic and political denotation inherent in the term Arab is generally dominant over genealogicalconsiderations. In Arab states, Modern Standard Arabic is the only language used by the government. The language of an individual nation is called Darija, which means "everyday/colloquial language." Darija shares the majority of its vocabulary with standard Arabic, but it also significantly borrows from Berber (Tamazight) substrates, as well as extensively from French, the language of the historical colonial occupier of the Maghreb. Darija is spoken and, to various extents, mutually understood in the Maghreb countries, especially Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but it is unintelligible to speakers of other Arabic dialects, mainly for those in Egypt and the Middle East.

Standard territorial definition[edit]

Main article: Arab League

Although no globally accepted definition of the Arab world exists, all countries that are members of the Arab Leagueare generally acknowledged as being part of the Arab world.

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:

This standard territorial definition is sometimes seen to be inappropriate or problematic, and may be supplemented with certain additional elements (see ancillary linguistic definition below).

Member states of the Arab League[edit]

Main article: Member states of the Arab League

Ancillary linguistic definition[edit]

Main article: Arabic language

As an alternative to, or in combination with, 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, or those states or territories in which the majority of the population speaks Arabic, and thus may also include populations of the Arab diaspora.

When an ancillary linguistic definition is used in combination with the standard territorial definition, various parameters may be applied[clarification needed] to determine whether a state or territory should be included in this alternative definition of the Arab world. These parameters may be applied[clarification needed] 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.

While Arabic dialects are spoken in a number of Arab League states, Literary Arabic is official in all of them. Several states have declared Arabic to be an official or national language, although Arabic is today 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 today, Arabic and Somali, both of which belong to the larger 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 words.

Similarly, Djibouti has two official languages, Arabic and French. It also has several formally recognized national languages; besides Somali, many people speak 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.

Comoros has three official languages: Arabic, 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 and Israel all recognize Arabic as an official 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 part of the Arab world. By some definitions, Arab citizens of Israel may concurrently be considered a constituent part of the Arab world.

Iran has about 1.5 million Arabic speakers. Iranian Arabs are mainly found in Ahvaz, a southwestern region in theKhuzestan Province; others inhabit the Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces and the city of Qom. Mali and Senegalrecognize Hassaniya, the Arabic dialect of the Moorish ethnic minority, as a national language. Greece and Cyprusalso 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. The language is grammatically akin to Maghrebi Arabic.

States[edit]

Country Area (Rank) Area (km2) Area (sq mi) Area (% of Total) Area (Notes) Population

(2016)

Pop (World rank) Density (rank) Density (/km2) Density (/mi2)
Algeria 1 2,381,741 919,595 18.1% Largest country inAfrica and in the Arab world. 40,606,052 34 17 16 41
Bahrain 22 758 293 0.005% 1,425,171 155 1 1,646 4,263
Comoros 21 2,235 863 0.01% 795,601 163 4 309 800
Djibouti 16 23,200 9,000 0.1% 942,333 159 15 37 96
Egypt 6 1,002,000 387,000 7.6% Excluding the Hala'ib Triangle(20,580 km2/7,950 sq mi). 95,688,681 16 9 100 259
Iraq 10 435,244 168,049 3.3% 37,202,572 40 12 70 181
Jordan 14 89,342 34,495 0.7% 9,455,802 106 11 71 184
Kuwait 17 17,818 6,880 0.1% 4,052,584 134 5 200 518
Lebanon 19 10,452 4,036 0.08% 6,006,668 125 3 404 1,046
Libya 4 1,759,540 679,360 11.4% 6,293,253 103 21 3.6 9.3
Mauritania 5 1,025,520 395,960 7.8% 4,301,018 138 22 3.2 8.3
Morocco 9 446,550 172,410 3.3% includingWestern Sahara(266,000 km2/103,000 sq mi). 35,276,786 35 10 80 207
Oman 11 309,500 119,500 2.4% 4,424,762 139 20 9.2 24
Palestine 20 27,000 10,000 0.05% 4,790,705 126 2 687 1,779
Qatar 18 11,586 4,473 0.08% 2,569,804 149 6 154 399
Saudi Arabia 2 2,149,690 830,000 16.4% Largest country in the Middle East. 32,275,687 45 19 13 34
Somalia 7 637,657 246,201 5.0% LongestCoastline inAfrica and the Arab League. 14,317,996 80 18 14 36
Sudan 3 1,861,484 718,723 14.2% Formerly the largest country inAfrica. 39,578,828 39 16 16 41
Syria 12 185,180 71,500 1.4% Including the part of theGolan Heights(1,200 km2/460 sq mi) currently occupied byIsrael. 18,430,453 55 7 118 306
Tunisia 13 163,610 63,170 1.2% 11,403,248 77 13 65 168
United Arab Emirates 15 83,600 32,300 0.6% 9,269,612 93 8 99 256
Yemen 8 527,968 203,850 4.0% 27,584,213 49 14 45 117
Arab Leaguetotal # 13,130,695 5,069,790 # # 406,691,829

Demographics[edit]

Main article: Demographics of the Arab League

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 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 Muslims in the Islamic world.

Religion[edit]

The majority of people in the Arab world adhere to Islam, and the religion has official status in most countries. Shariahlaw exists partially in the legal system in some countries (especially in the Arabian peninsula), while others are legislatively secular. The majority of the Arab countries adhere to Sunni Islam. Iraq and Bahrain, however, are Shiamajority 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 some Christian adherents in the Arab world, particularly in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, andPalestine. Coptic, Maronite and Assyrian Christian[disambiguation needed] enclaves exist in the Nile Valley, Levant and northern Iraq respectively. There are also numbers of Assyrian, Armenian, Syriac-Aramean and Arab Christiansthroughout Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, many of which have diminished due to various regional conflicts.

Smaller ethno-religious minorities across the Arab League include the Yezidis, Yarsan and Shabaks (mainly in Iraq), the Druzes (mainly in Syria and also in Lebanon, Jordan) and Mandaeans (in Iraq). Formerly, there were significant minorities of Jews throughout the Arab World. However, the Arab–Israeli conflict prompted their mass exodus between 1948–72. Today small Jewish communities remain, ranging anywhere from just 10 in Bahrain, to more than 1,000 inTunisia and some 3,000 in Morocco.

Historically, slavery in the Muslim world developed out of pre-Islamic practices of slavery in the Arab world.

Education[edit]

According to UNESCO, the average rate of adult literacy (ages 15 and older) in this region is 76.9%. In Mauritania and Yemen, the rate is lower than the average, at barely over 50%. On the other hand, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine andJordan record a high adult literacy rate of over 90%.[citation needed] The average rate of adult literacy shows steady improvement, and the absolute number of adult illiterates fell from 64 million to around 58 million between 1990 and 2000-2004. 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. According to a UN survey, in the Arab world, the average person reads four pages a year and one new title is published each year for every 12,000 people. The Arab Thought Foundation reports that just above 8% of people in Arab countries aspire to get an education.

Literacy rate is higher among the 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 GCC States *Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC)

Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) was 94%, followed by the Maghreb at 83.2% and theMashriq at 73.6%.

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[edit]

Women in the Arab world are still denied 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.

Largest cities in the Arab world[edit]

Main article: List of largest cities in the Arab world

Table of largest cities in the Arab world by official city propers:

Rank
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