Arab world

This article is about geographical region. For the geopolitical entity, see Arab League.

Arab world
Area13,132,327 km2 (5,070,420 sq mi)[1]
Population456,520,777[2]
Population density29.839/km2 (70.37/sq mi)[3]
GDP (nominal)$2.782 trillion[4]
GDP per capita$6,647[5]
DemonymArab
Countries
DependenciesArab League[6]
Time zonesUTC±00:00 to UTC+04:00
Internet TLD.africa, .asia
Largest citiesMajor cities of Arab world
List

The Arab world (Arabic: اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ al-ʿālam al-ʿarabī), formally the Arab homeland (اَلْوَطَنُ الْعَرَبِيُّ al-waṭan al-ʿarabī),[7][8][9] also known as the Arab nation (اَلْأُمَّةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ al-ummah al-ʿarabiyyah), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states,[10] 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 Arab,[11][12] there are also significant populations of other ethnic groups such as Berbers, Kurds, Somalis and Nubians, among other groups.[13] Arabic is used as the lingua franca throughout the Arab world.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

The Arab world is at its minimum defined as the 19 states where Arabs form at least a plurality of the population.[20][21] At its maximum it consists of the 22 members of the Arab League, an international organization,[6] which on top of the 19 plurality Arab states also includes the Comoros, 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.[6] 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.[2] The region is nevertheless diverse in many ways, and economically includes some of the wealthiest as well as poorest populations.[21] The region mostly corresponds with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) definition.

In post-classical history, the Arab world was synonymous with the historic Arab empires and caliphates.[22] 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.[23][24]

  1. ^ "Arab World – Surface area". indexmundi.com.
  2. ^ a b "Arab World | Data". World Bank. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Population density (people per sq. km of land area) | Data". World Bank.
  4. ^ "GDP (current US$) | Data". World Bank.
  5. ^ "GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) | Data". World Bank.
  6. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Frishkopf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Khan, Zafarul-Islam. "The Arab World – an Arab perspective". milligazette.com.
  8. ^ Phillips, Christopher (2012). Everyday Arab Identity: The Daily Reproduction of the Arab World. Routledge. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-136-21960-3.
  9. ^ Mellor, Noha; Rinnawi, Khalil; Dajani, Nabil; Ayish, Muhammad I. (2013). Arab Media: Globalization and Emerging Media Industries. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0745637365.
  10. ^ "Majority and Minorities in the Arab World: The Lack of a Unifying Narrative". Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs.
  11. ^ Hitti, Philip K. (1996). The Arabs : a short history. Philip K. Hitti. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing. ISBN 0-89526-706-3. OCLC 34753527.
  12. ^ Rogan, Eugene L. (2011). The Arabs: A History (First paperback ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02504-6. OCLC 728657250.
  13. ^ "Middle East – People and Society". World101 from the Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  14. ^ "Jordan and Syria". Ethnologue. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  15. ^ Jastrow, Otto O. (2006), "Iraq", in Versteegh, Kees; Eid, Mushira; Elgibali, Alaa; Woidich, Manfred; Zaborski, Andrzej (eds.), Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, vol. 2, Brill Publishers, p. 414, ISBN 978-90-04-14474-3
  16. ^ Arabic, Najdi Spoken. Ethnologue
  17. ^ Arabic, Hijazi Spoken. Ethnologue
  18. ^ Arabic, Gulf Spoken. Ethnologue
  19. ^ Simeone-Sinelle, Marie-Claude (2005). "Arabic Lingua Franca in the Horn of Africa". Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. 2 – via Academia.edu.
  20. ^ "Why the Arab world has an identity crisis". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  21. ^ a b Tamari, Steve (2008). Who are the Arabs?. Washington, D.C., United States: Georgetown University-Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. p. 1.
  22. ^ "The Arab League". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  23. ^ "Arab League Sends Delegation to Iraq". Encyclopedia.com. 8 October 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  24. ^ "Arab League Warns of Civil War in Iraq". Encyclopedia.com. 8 October 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2011.