Demographics of the Arab League
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The Arab League is a culturally and ethnically diverse league of 22 member states. As of January 1, 2007, the combined population of all the countries that are members of the Arab League was about 340 million people.
The most populous member state is Egypt, with a population of 80 million people. Djibouti is the least populated with around 500,000 inhabitants. Most of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf import high amounts of foreign labour. For example, the UAE's native inhabitants make up less than 20% of its overall population.
Some Persian Gulf Arab states import cheap labor from poorer Arab countries such as Yemen, and Egypt, while others turn to countries in Asia and Africa.
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Population growth [edit]
The population of the Arab League as estimated by the CIA in the year 2007 was around 340,000,000. No exact figures of the League's annual population growth, fertility rate, or mortality rate are known to exist.
Most of the Arab League's population is concentrated in and around major urban areas.[1]
Religion in the Arab World [edit]
Islam, Christianity, and Judaism were all founded in or near areas that are now Arab League countries. Consequently, the majority of the Arab League's citizens are either Muslims, Christians or Jews. The countries of the Arab League host several holy cities and other religiously significant locations, including Alexandria, Mecca, Medina, Kirkuk, Arbil, and Baghdad. Sunni Muslims make up the Majority of the Arab League's citizens. However, large numbers of Shi'a Muslims make up the majority in areas of Lebanon, Iraq, and Bahrain. Christianity is the second largest religion in the League, with over 20 million Christians living in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. There are smaller Jewish populations living mainly in the western part of the Arab league. Places such as Morocco, Algeria, Yemen, Tunisia, Syria, Egypt and Iraq all have Jewish populations. However, most Arab Jews emigrated from the Arab states to Israel after its founding in 1948.[2] Other minor religions such as Druze religion, the Bahá'í Faith, Mandeanism, Yazdanism, Zoroastrianism, Shabak religion and Yarsan are practiced on a much smaller scale.
- Muslim population - 311,093,951
- Total population - 349,870,608
Religious percentages of the Arab League
| N | Country | Muslims | Christians | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _ |  Arab League |
90% | 6% | 4% |
| 1 |  Algeria |
98% | 1% | 1% |
| 2 |  Bahrain |
70.2% | UNK | 29.8% |
| 3 |  Comoros |
99% | 1% | n/a |
| 4 |  Djibouti |
94% | 6% | n/a% |
| 5 |  Egypt |
90% | 10% | n/a |
| 6 |  Iraq |
95% | 4.3% | 0.7% |
| 7 |  Jordan |
92% | 6% | 2% |
| 8 |  Kuwait |
85% | 7% | 8% |
| 9 |  Lebanon |
59.7% | 39% | 1.3% |
| 10 |  Libya |
97% | 2.4% | 0.6% |
| 11 |  Mauritania |
100% | 0% | 0% |
| 12 |  Morocco |
98.7% | 1.1% | 0.2% |
| 13 |  Oman |
92.5% | 5% | 2.5% |
| 14 |  Qatar |
77.9% | 8.5% | 10% |
| 15 |  Saudi Arabia |
97% | 1.3% | 1.7% |
| 16 |  Somalia |
99% | 0% | 0% |
| 17 |  Sudan |
97%[3] | 3% | |
| 18 |  Syria |
87% | 10% | 3% |
| 19 |  Tunisia |
98% | 1% | 1% |
| 20 |  United Arab Emirates |
76% | 9.0% | 15% |
| 21 |  Yemen |
100% | 0% | 0% |
Language [edit]
Arabic is the Arab League's official language, but additional languages are often used in the daily lives of some of the League's citizens. Currently, three major languages other than Arabic are used widely: Kurdish in northern Iraq and parts of Syria, Berber in North Africa, and Somali in the Horn of Africa.
There are several minority languages that are still spoken today, such as Afar, Armenian, Hebrew, Nubian, Persian, Aramaic, Mandic, Syriac, and Turkmen. Arabic is a non-native language to 20% of the Arab League's population, with the Somali, Berber and Kurdish languages considered the most widely-used after Arabic.
On the other hand, Arabic is divided into over 27 dialects. Almost every Arab state has at least one local dialect of its own. they can be divided into 5 major branches, the Peninsula Arabic, which is the Arabic used in the Arabian peninsula, with around 9 main dialects, Arabic of the Nile Valley, which includes the Masri, Saedi, Sudanese and Chadic Arabic, the Arabic of the Fertile Crescent, which includes the Bedawi, Levant Arabic, Iraqi Arabic and North Mesopotamian Arabic, the Magharbi Arabic, which includes the Dialects used in Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia, also another category of Arabic is the other isolated dialects of Arabic, like the Judeo-Arabic, Mediterranean Arabic, Nubi Arabic, and the juba Arabic, which have greatly been affected by these communities' own pronunciation, culture and native tongue.
Ethnicities [edit]
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This section may contain original research. (October 2012) |
Since most modern borders of the Arab world are products of Western imperial powers, they often ignore distinct ethnic and geographic boundaries. Thus, in addition to regions with large Arab populations being located in non-Arab countries (such as the Turkish province of Hatay, populated mainly by indigenous Iskanderun Syrians, and the Iranian province of Khuzestan, which has a minority of Iranian Arabs), many peripheral states of the Arab world have border-straddling minorities of non-Arab peoples, as is the case with the non-Arab Black Africans of southern Mauritania.
Many Arab countries in the Persian Gulf have sizable (10–30%) non-Arab populations, usually of a temporary nature, at least in theory. Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman has a sizeable Persian speaking minority. The same countries also have Hindi-Urdu speakers and Filipinos as sizable minority. Balochi speakers are a good size minority in Oman. Countries like Bahrain, UAE, Oman and Kuwait have significant non-Muslim / non-Arab minorities (10–20%) like Hindus and Christians from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines.
Many non-Arab countries bordering the core Arab world states have large Arab populations, as is the case in Chad, Israel, Turkey, Mali, Niger, and Senegal.
| Ethnicity | Total | Estimated Date |
|---|---|---|
| Arabs | 295,921,955 | est.2007 |
| Afars | 456,000 | 2007 |
| Amhara | 191,000 | 2007 |
| Assyrians | 1,779,700 | 2006 |
| Armenians | 260,500 | 2007 |
| Beja | 2,779,000 | 2007 |
| Berbers | 16,364,100 | 2007 |
| Cherkes | 229,600 | 2006 |
| Western Europeans | 853,950 | 2007 |
| Filipino | 2,000,000 | 2007 |
| Greeks | 89,100 | 2007 |
| Gypsies | 500,000 | 2007 |
| Han Chinese | 105,590 | 2007 |
| Indian (see also Hinduism in Arab states) |
5,228,900 | 2012 |
| Somalis | 8,882,500 | 2007 |
| Jews | 19,940 | 2007 |
| Kurds | 6,216,500 | 2007 |
| Malays | 516,100 | 2007 |
| Nubians | 1,700,000 | 2006 |
| Persians | 1,192,000 | 2006 |
| Swahili | 497,200 | 2006 |
| Tigrinya | 47,800 | 2007 |
| Tuareg | 242,000 | 2007 |
| Turkish (see also Turks in the Arab world) |
7,000,000 | 2012 |
| Turkmens | 458,900 | 2007 |
| Urdu | 963,300 | 2006 |
Berbers [edit]
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In the Maghreb (North Africa) most of the population speaks Arabic although there is a significant Berber population. Arab and Berber identity in these countries is generally defined situationally by both language and ancestry. In Morocco, Berber speakers form about 30% of the total population; in Algeria, they represent about 20% of the population. In Libya, they form about 13% of the population[citation needed]. There are much smaller isolated Berber communities in Mauritania and one oasis in Egypt's Western Desert. The nomadic Tuareg people whose traditional areas straddle the borders of several countries in the Sahara desert, are Berber. Government worries about ethnic separatism, and condescending attitudes towards the mainly rural Berber-speaking areas, led to the Berber communities being denied full linguistic and cultural rights; in Algeria, for example, Berber chairs at universities were closed, and Berber singers were occasionally banned from singing in their own language, although an official Berber radio station continued to operate throughout. These problems have to some extent been redressed in later years in Morocco and Algeria; both have started teaching Berber languages in schools and universities, and Algeria has amended its constitution to declare Berber a fundamental aspect of Algerian identity (along with Islam and Arabness.) In Libya, however, any suggestion that Berbers might be non-Arab remains taboo.[1]
Nubians [edit]
Nubians, found in Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt, are a different ethnicity from their upper and southern Arab neighbors in Egypt and Sudan, numbering 1.7 million in Sudan and Egypt. The Nubian people in Sudan inhabit the region between Wadi Halfa in the north and Aldaba in the south. The main Nubian groups from north to south are the Halfaweyen, Sikut (Sickkout), Mahas, and Danagla. They speak different dialects of the Nubian language.
In ancient times Nubians were depicted by Egyptians as having very dark skin, often shown with hooped earrings and with braided or extended hair. Ancient Nubians were famous for their vast wealth, their trade between Central Africa and the lower Nile valley civilizations, including Egypt, their skill and precision with the bow, their 23-letter alphabet, the use of deadly poison on the heads of their arrows, their great military, their advanced civilization, and their century-long rule over the united upper and lower Egyptian kingdoms.
Kurds [edit]
In the northern regions of Iraq (15-20%) and Syria (10%) live the Kurds, an Indo-European ethnic group who speak Kurdish, a language closely related to Persian and using Persian alphabet. The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, others are Alevi Muslim, with Christian, Yarsan and Jewish minorities. The nationalist aspiration for self-rule or for a state of Kurdistan has created conflict between Kurdish minorities and their governments in Iraq, Iran (20-28%), Syria and Turkey (25-30%).
Assyrians [edit]
Assyrians (also known as Chaldo-Assyrians) can be found in Iraq, north eastern Syria, and to a lesser degree north western Iran and south eastern Turkey. They are an ancient Semitic people who retain Aramaic as a spoken language. They are exclusively Christian and are descendants of the ancient pre Arab Assyrians/Mesopotamians. Almost all Christians in Iraq are ethnic Assyrians, where they number approximately 800,000. Numbers in Syria are harder to identify, because they are often included in with the general Christian population, however the Christians of the Tur Abdin and Al Hasakah regions in the north east are predominantly Assyrians.
Armenians [edit]
The Arab World has between 400,000 and 500,000 Armenians inhabiting its geographical area. Armenians are largely concentrated in countries such as Lebanon 150,000 - 250,000 and Syria 100,000 to 150,000 and to a lesser degree Egypt and Iraq, but Armenians can also be found in countries like Qatar and the UAE. These Armenians are economic migrants from Lebanon and Syria.
Most Armenians are Christians mainly following the Orthodox Armenian Apostolic Church. The church has one of its two headquarters in Antelias, Lebanon, called The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia (the other being in Armenia called Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin). There are also Armenian Catholics. The world headquarters of the Armenian Catholic Church is also located in Beirut, Lebanon (and historically in Bzoummar, Lebanon). There are also a minority Armenian Evangelical Protestants. The Middle East headquarters of the Armenian Evangelical Church is in Beirut called Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East.
Egyptians [edit]
Egyptians generally do not identify themselves as ethnic Arabs and still retain numerous pre-Arab cultural traditions that date back to ancient Egypt. The Egyptian people acknowledge their pre-Arab identity and Egyptian nationalism has become the dominant ideology in Egypt after the death of former president Gamal Abdel Nasser who was a staunch advocate for Arab nationalism and was considered the leader of the Arab nationalist movement during his rule.
In 1931, following a visit to Egypt, Syrian Arab nationalist Sati' al-Husri remarked that "Egyptians did not possess an Arab nationalist sentiment; did not accept that Egypt was a part of the Arab lands, and would not acknowledge that the Egyptian people were part of the Arab nation." [4]
A year after the establishment of the Arab League (in 1945) Oxford University historian H. S. Deighton wrote: “ The Egyptians are not Arabs, and both they and the Arabs are aware of this fact. They are Arabic-speaking, and they are Muslim —indeed religion plays a greater part in their lives than it does in those either of the Syrians or the Iraqi. But the Egyptian, during the first thirty years of the [twentieth] century, was not aware of any particular bond with the Arab East... Egypt sees in the Arab cause a worthy object of real and active sympathy and, at the same time, a great and proper opportunity for the exercise of leadership, as well as for the enjoyment of its fruits. But she is still Egyptian first and Arab only in consequence, and her main interests are still domestic" [5]
Egyptian critics of Arab nationalism contend that it has worked to erode and/or relegate native Egyptian identity by superimposing only one aspect of Egypt's culture. These views and sources for collective identification in the Egyptian state are captured in the words of a linguistic anthropologist who conducted fieldwork in Cairo: “ Historically, Egyptians have considered themselves as distinct from 'Arabs' and even at present rarely do they make that identification in casual contexts; il-'arab [the Arabs] as used by Egyptians refers mainly to the inhabitants of the Gulf states... Egypt has been both a leader of pan-Arabism and a site of intense resentment towards that ideology. Egyptians had to be made, often forcefully, into "Arabs" [during the Nasser era] because they did not historically identify themselves as such. Egypt was self-consciously a nation not only before pan-Arabism but also before becoming a colony of the British Empire. Its territorial continuity since ancient times, its unique history as exemplified in its pharaonic past and later on its Coptic language and culture, had already made Egypt into a nation for centuries. Egyptians saw themselves, their history, culture and language as specifically Egyptian and not "Arab." [6]
Coptic Egyptians [edit]
Egyptian Copts do not recognise themselves as Arab, but emphasise their pre Arab Ancient Egyptian identity. They comprise 10% - 20% of the Egyptian population. They are Christians, mainly of the Orthodox tradition in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. There are also a minority Copts following Catholic tradition within the Coptic Catholic Church. The Copts retain a form of ancient Egyptian language to this day for religious ceremonies.
Maronites [edit]
A large proportion of Lebanese Maronite Christians identify with a pre-Arab and pre-Islamic Phoenician identity, and do not self identify as ethnic Arabs. Maronites, part of the Maronite Church, an Oriental Catholic Syriac Church live mainly in Lebanon where they retain, by tradition and National Pact, the post of Presidency of the Republic and the leadership of the Lebanese Army. They also have great presence in Syria and live in smaller numbers in Palestine, Jordan and Egypt.
Somalis [edit]
Somalia is a Muslim country, but many Somalis just recognize themselves as Somali instead of Arab despite centuries-old ties to Arabia.[7] Although Somalia joined the Arab League in 1974, accords Arabic official language status, and Arabic is spoken by Somalis in commerce, religion and education, the country's primary language is Somali. The population also predominantly consists of ethnic Somalis with small communities of Indian, Indonesian, Italians, Britons, and Portuguese.[citation needed]Djibouti, whose demographics are approximately 60% Somali and 35% Afar, is in a similar position. Arabic is one of the official languages, 94% of the nation's population is Muslim, and its location on the Red Sea places it in close proximity to the Arabian Peninsula.
Turks [edit]
The Turks colonised many Arab countries during the rule of the Ottoman Empire; today there are Turkish minorities living in Algeria (Algerian Turks), Egypt (Egyptian Turks), Jordan (Jordan Turks), Lebanon (Lebanese Turks), Syria (Syrian Turks), Tunisia (Tunisian Turks), and Yemen (Yemeni Turks).
Turkmen [edit]
The Arab world is also home to sizeable populations of Turkmen. These are related to the Azeri people of Iran. The vast majority are secular Muslim, but there are a small number of Christians also. They live predominantly in Northern Iraq, but in smaller numbers in Syria and Lebanon.
Yezidi [edit]
The Yezidi people are mainly found in Iraq and Syria. They are closely related to Kurds, but emphasise their separate identity. They follow their own religion, Yazdanism.
Shabaks [edit]
Shabaks are mainly found in Iraq, they are either Muslim or follow native religions. They are also related to Kurds, but like the Yazidi, emphasise their separate identity.
Mandaeans [edit]
Mandaeans, sometimes also called Sabians are a people found mainly in southern Iraq. Their numbers total no more than 70,000. They follow an ancient Gnostic religion.
Roma [edit]
Roma are to be found in many parts of the Middle East; their numbers are unknown. They speak their own language and may loosely follow the predominant religion of the country they live in.[8]
Circassians [edit]
Circassians are a people who originate in the North Caucasus. They are predominantly Muslim, and can be found in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon in relatively small numbers.
Mhallami [edit]
Mhallami are a tiny minority of Syriacs/Arameans who have converted to Islam but retained their Syriac culture.
Jews [edit]
Many Jews in Israel have roots in Arab countries, from where most were expelled in the first decades following the creation of Israel and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Small minorities exist still in Syria and Morocco.
Genetics [edit]
Y-Chromosome [edit]
Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in main regions of the Arab world (Maghreb, Mashriq and Arabian peninsula).[9]
| Haplogroup | n | A | B | C | DE | E1a | E1b1a | E1b1b1 | E1b1b1a | E1b1b1a1 | E1b1b1a1b | E1b1b1a2 | E1b1b1a3 | E1b1b1a4 | E1b1b1b | E1b1b1c | F | G | H | I | J1 | J2 | K | L | N | O | P,R | Q | R1a1 | R1b | R1b1a | R1b1b | R2 | T |
| Marker | M33 | M2 | M35 | M78 | V12 | V32 | V13 | V22 | V65 | M81 | M34 | M89 | M201 | M69 | M343 | V88 | M269 | M70 | ||||||||||||||||
| Maghreb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sahara/Mauritania | 189 | - | 0.53 | - | - | 5.29 | 6.88 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 55.56 | 11.11 | - | - | - | - | 13.23 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.88 | 0.53 | - | - |
| Morocco | 760 | 0.26 | 0.66 | - | - | 2.76 | 3.29 | 4.21 | 0.79 | 0.26 | - | 0.26 | 1.84 | 3.68 | 67.37 | 0.66 | 0.26 | 0.66 | - | 0.13 | 6.32 | 1.32 | 0.53 | - | - | - | 0.26 | - | - | - | 0.92 | 3.55 | - | - |
| Algeria | 156 | - | - | - | - | 0.64 | 5.13 | 0.64 | 1.92 | 0.64 | - | 0.64 | 1.28 | 1.92 | 44.23 | 1.28 | 3.85 | - | - | - | 21.79 | 4.49 | 0.64 | - | - | - | - | 0.64 | 0.64 | - | 2.56 | 7.04 | - | - |
| Tunisia | 601 | - | 0.17 | - | - | 0.5 | 0.67 | 1.66 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 3.16 | 62.73 | 1.16 | 2.66 | 0.17 | - | 0.17 | 16.64 | 2.83 | 0.33 | - | - | - | 0.33 | - | 0.5 | - | 1.83 | 0.33 | - | 1.16 |
| Libya | 83 | - | - | - | - | - | 38.55 | - | - | - | - | 2.41 | - | 4.82 | 45.78 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.41 | - | - | - | 6.02 | - | - | - |
| Machrik | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Egypt | 370 | 1.35 | - | - | - | 0.54 | 2.43 | 3.24 | 0.81 | 7.03 | 1.62 | 0.81 | 9.19 | 2.43 | 11.89 | 6.76 | 1.08 | 5.68 | - | 0.54 | 20.81 | 6.75 | 0.27 | 0.81 | - | 0.27 | 0.54 | 0.27 | 2.16 | - | 2.97 | 2.97 | 0.54 | 6.22 |
| Levant + Iraq | 2741 | 0.18 | 0.04 | 0.04 | - | 0.33 | 0.62 | 0.44 | - | - | - | 1.24 | 8.72 | - | 0.84 | 5.36 | 0.15 | 5.47 | - | 2.84 | 30.83 | 21.05 | 0.69 | 3.43 | 0.15 | 0.07 | 0.66 | 1.2 | 3.39 | 0.36 | 5.47 | 1.97 | 0.47 | 3.98 |
| Arabian Peninsula | 618 | 0.16 | 0.81 | 0.97 | 0.81 | 0.32 | 5.66 | 1.94 | 0.49 | - | - | 0.32 | 2.43 | - | 0.16 | 5.66 | 1.29 | 2.91 | 2.1 | - | 44.01 | 11.32 | 4.37 | 2.27 | - | 0.65 | 0.32 | 1.46 | 6.31 | 0.16 | - | 2.43 | 0.16 | 0.49 |
Comparison of population to area and GDP [edit]
| Country | Area (km2) | Population (est. 2007) | GDP PPP (in billions $) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arab League |
13,333,296 | 340,043,965 | 1,860,193 |
| Algeria |
2,381,740 | 33,333,216 | 250,000 |
| Bahrain |
665 | 708,573 | 18,000 |
| Comoros |
2,170 | 711,417 | 1,275 |
| Djibouti |
23,000 | 496,374 | 1,878 |
| Egypt |
1,001,450 | 80,335,036 | 334,400 |
| Iraq |
437,072 | 27,499,638 | 50,720 |
| Jordan |
92,300 | 6,053,193 | 30,000 |
| Kuwait |
17,820 | 2,505,559 | 55,910 |
| Lebanon |
10,400 | 4,224,000 | 51,474 |
| Libya |
1,759,540 | 6,036,914 | 72,680 |
| Mauritania |
1,030,700 | 3,270,065 | 8,124 |
| Morocco |
446,550 | 33,757,175 | 152,500 |
| Oman |
212,460 | 3,204,897 | 44,530 |
| Qatar |
11,437 | 907,229 | 26,370 |
| Saudi Arabia |
2,149,690 | 27,601,038 | 366,200 |
| Somalia |
637,657 | 9,118,773 | 5,575 |
| Sudan |
1,886,068 | 30,894,000 | 97,470 |
| Syria |
185,180 | 19,314,747 | 77,660 |
| Tunisia |
163,610 | 10,276,158 | 89,740 |
| United Arab Emirates |
83,600 | 4,444,011 | 129,500 |
| Yemen |
527,970 | 22,230,531 | 20,630 |
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries
- ^ "Sudan Overview". UNDP Sudan. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
- ^ Jankowski, "Egypt and Early Arab Nationalism", p. 246
- ^ Deighton, H. S. "The Arab Middle East and the Modern World", International Affairs, vol. xxii, no. 4 (October 1946), p. 519.
- ^ Haeri, Niloofar. Sacred language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2003, pp. 47, 136.
- ^ David D. Laitin, Politics, Language, and Thought, (University of Chicago Press: 1977), p.50
- ^ [2]
- ^ Bekada A, Fregel R, Cabrera VM, Larruga JM, Pestano J, et al. (2013) Introducing the Algerian Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Profiles into the North African Landscape. PLoS ONE 8(2): e56775. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056775
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