Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Europe, the Middle East and Africa, usually abbreviated to EMEA, is a regional designation used for government, marketing and business purposes. It is particularly common amongst North American based companies, who often divide their international operations into the following regions:

• The Americas, being North, Central, and South America (NCSA, AMER, AMS, NALA, or simply "The Americas")
  • North America, being Canada, the United States, and Mexico (NORAM or NAM)
    • or Northern America, meaning Canada and the United States only (NA; or North American Region, NAR)
  • Latin America, and the Caribbean (LATAM, or LAC or CALA or LAM)
• Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
  • Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA). Increasingly, companies are separating their Eastern European business from the rest of Europe, and refer to the EEMEA region separately from the Western/Central European (EU/EFTA) region. Another variation is SEMEA (Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa). The counterpart to the European markets is the MENA region of "Middle East and North Africa".
  • Some companies may also consider including Russia in this categorization of the region (EMEAR).
  • Some companies may also use Black and Caspian sea as a region (CIS).
• Asia Pacific, and Japan (AP, APAC, JAPA, APJ, JAPAC or SEAP: South Eastern Asia and Pacific or SWAP: South Western Asia and Pacific)

A common mistake made by North American corporations is to assume that abbreviations like EMEA and APJ will be familiar to their customers living in those regions.