Banking and Finance
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The banking and financial markets in the Arab Region are one of the fastest growing worldwide. More than 330 Arab banking and financial institutions operate in the Arab region today, with total banking assets amounting to 140% of GDP, or USD 3.4 trillion, total deposits accounting for more than USD 2.2 trillion and total loans reaching USD 1.9 trillion by the end of 2016.
Banks Liquid assets to deposits and short term funding
Libya - 2016
Libya - 2016
Bank noninterest income to total income
United Arab Emirates - 2014
United Arab Emirates - 2014
Bank noninterest income to total income
Palestine - 2014
Palestine - 2014
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Demography
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By 2018, the Arab region was home to 422.7 million inhabitants representing 5.5% of the world’s population and growing by 1.9% in 2018. The three most populous countries in the region are Egypt (99.3 million), Algeria (42 million) and Sudan (41.5 million), while the population in Comoros and Djibouti is less than one million in 2018.
Old-age dependency ratio
Syria - 2020
Syria - 2020
Child dependency ratio
Morocco - 2020
Morocco - 2020
International migrant stock, percentage of population
Sudan - 2017
Sudan - 2017
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Education
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The Arab region has registered a remarkable trend of growing gains in educational attainment and more equitable access to formal education since the beginning of the millennium, with impressive progress towards gender parity across all stages of education. Gross primary enrolment reached 98.9% in 2016, up from 90.5% in 2000 and gross tertiary enrollment increased to 73.5% in 2016 up from 61% in 2000. Adult literacy rate also increased from 65% to 75.3% between 2000 and 2016.
Pupil-teacher ratio, primary
Syria - 2002
Syria - 2002
Proportion of students at the end of primary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in mathematics, rural areas
Mauritania - 2003
Mauritania - 2003
Pupil-teacher ratio, upper secondary
Syria - 2013
Syria - 2013
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Energy
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The Arab region is one of the world’s richest regions in terms of oil and natural gas resources. According to recent estimates, 42% of the world proven oil reserves and 29% of the world’s proven natural gas reserves are located in the Arab region. Electricity production in the region relies heavily on conventional fuel sources, with a production amounting to 1,050 TWh in 2014, of which only 40 TWh were produced using renewable sources. The electrification rate in 15 Arab countries was above the World average of 85 percent in 2012, with 6 countries reaching 100 percent electrification rate.
Subsidization rate
Egypt - 2017
Egypt - 2017
Total subsidy, percentage of GDP
Qatar - 2017
Qatar - 2017
Subsidization rate
Qatar - 2017
Qatar - 2017
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Environment
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The Arab region comprises one of the largest deserts in the world making up around 18% of the total surface area of the Arab region. The region is characterized by an arid and semi-arid climate. The rapidly growing population and high urbanization rates exert increasing pressures on the available natural resources.
Mountain Green Cover Index
United Arab Emirates - 2017
United Arab Emirates - 2017
Water body extent, permanent and maybe permanent, percentage of total land area
Morocco - 2016
Morocco - 2016
Average proportion of Freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) covered by protected areas, lower bound
Tunisia - 2018
Tunisia - 2018
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Gender
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By 2017, women made up almost half of the total Arab population and 22.6% of the total labor force in the region. With significant improvements made in health and education over the last 15 years, gender-based disparities continue in the labor markets and the political space remains the most challenging for women.
Women in ministerial level positions
Egypt - 2016
Egypt - 2016
Women in ministerial level positions
Kuwait - 2016
Kuwait - 2016
Women in ministerial level positions
Lebanon - 2010
Lebanon - 2010
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Governance
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Some Arab countries have made intense efforts to make their economies more open and to improve their level of competitiveness, such as the United Arab Emirates which ranked 17th, the highest in the region, among 137 countries on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) in 2017-18, followed by Qatar, ranking 25th.
Percentage of firms expected to give gifts to get an import license
Lebanon - 2013
Lebanon - 2013
Public satisfaction with the healthcare system
Morocco - 2016
Morocco - 2016
Percentage of people who think that obtaining employment through connections is 'extremely widespread'
Sudan - 2013
Sudan - 2013
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Health
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The Arab region has made a clear progress in a number of health and health-related outcomes. The average life expectancy increased from 58.5 years in 1980 to 71 years in 2015. Under-five mortality has significantly decreased from an average of 81.2 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 38 per 1000 in 2016.
Anemia prevalence, percentage of pregnant women
Palestine - 2016
Palestine - 2016
Population covered by health insurance, Jordanian health services
Jordan - 2017
Jordan - 2017
Polio Pol3 vaccination coverage, percent of one-year-old children
Mauritania - 2017
Mauritania - 2017
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I C T
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Mobile-cellular subscriptions have been substituting fixed-telephone subscriptions in the Arab region. The former has increased by around 40% between 2010 and 2018 reaching a penetration rate of 103.1% in 2018, whereas fixed-telephone subscriptions have dropped by 7% during the same period reaching a penetration rate of 7.7% in 2018. The percentage of individuals (% of total population) using the internet in the Arab Region has more than doubled in 2018 at 54.7% up from 24% in 2010, with wide variations between the different Arab countries.
Enrolment in programmes offering internet-assisted instruction (IAI), primary
Palestine - 2012
Palestine - 2012
Proportion of businesses using the Internet for accessing other financial services, enterprises, more than 10 employees
Lebanon - 2011
Lebanon - 2011
Enrolment in programmes offering internet-assisted instruction (IAI), primary, female
Oman - 2012
Oman - 2012
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Labor and Employment
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The Arab countries share common labor market features and challenges. The labor force participation rate in the region is the lowest worldwide at 48.6 % in 2017, with highest rates observed in the GCC countries. The unemployment rate in the Arab region remains one of the highest in the world registering 10.2% in 2017 compared to 5.7% worldwide. This rate is especially high among youth at 26.7% in 2017.
Unemployment distribution by education, secondary
Syria - 2012
Syria - 2012
Employment distribution by education, intermediate
Lebanon - 2009
Lebanon - 2009
Proportion of children aged 5-14 engaged in child labour
Tunisia - 2012
Tunisia - 2012
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Macroeconomy
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Macroeconomic performance tends to diverge across the Arab countries between major oil and natural gas exporting countries and other countries in the region, such as those plagued by protracted crises. For the Arab region, as a whole, the GDP (Purchasing Power Parity, constant 2011 prices) leveled at Int$ 6,302.6 billion in 2016, constituting 5.6% of the world’s GDP.
Inflation, percentage change of the GDP deflator
Mauritania - 2017
Mauritania - 2017
Natural gas rents, percent of GDP
Yemen - 2017
Yemen - 2017
Natural gas rents, percent of GDP
Tunisia - 2017
Tunisia - 2017
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Poverty
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The Arab region witnessed an improvement in its Human Development Index (HDI), from 0.613 in 2000 to 0.699 in 2017, but it remained below the world average of 0.728. Despite this positive overall trend in human development, poverty remains one of the paramount challenges and major impediments to inclusive development in the region, and that’s why “Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere” was considered a top priority in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Poverty gap at $1.90 a day, PPP
Sudan - 2009
Sudan - 2009
Income share held by fourth 20%
Sudan - 2009
Sudan - 2009
Proportion of the population covered by social insurance programs
Egypt - 2008
Egypt - 2008
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Trade
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Arab countries’ total share of world exports has doubled since 2000, reaching 7% in 2014. Fuel exports, representing the vast majority of exports in the oil-producing countries, amounted to 73% of the region’s merchandise in 2015. When excluding fuel, the Arab region’s non-oil exports made up 2% of the world exports in 2013 up from 1% in 2000.
Current account balance, percentage of GDP
Palestine - 2018
Palestine - 2018
Manufactures imports, percentage of merchandise imports
Jordan - 2017
Jordan - 2017
Current account balance, percentage of GDP
Oman - 2017
Oman - 2017
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Water and Food Security
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In most Arab countries, water has become a critical natural resource. Most countries in the region are classified as arid or semiarid or, receiving less than 250 mm of rainfall annually. Renewable water resources per inhabitant reached 736 m3 in 2014, compared to a world average of about 6,000 m3 per inhabitant, placing 13 out of 22 Arab countries in the category of severe water scarcity at less than 500 m3 per capita.
Degree of integrated water resources management implementation, high
United Arab Emirates - 2017
United Arab Emirates - 2017
Terrestrial and marine protected areas, percent of total territorial area
Tunisia - 2018
Tunisia - 2018
Terrestrial and marine protected areas, percent of total territorial area
Yemen - 2018
Yemen - 2018
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Youth
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Adolescents and youth, 10-24 years old, in the Arab region currently account for nearly third of the total population. The region has experienced remarkable advances in education since year 2000. Secondary gross enrolment increased to 74.2 percent in 2017, up from 61.0 percent in 2000, and gross tertiary enrolment reached 32.4 percent, up from 18.5 percent in 2000.
While adolescents and youth in the region were able to improve their levels of education, many economies in the region fail to absorb new entrants to the labor market. Youth unemployment rate in the region is the highest in the world, at 25.7 percent, ranging from 0.6 percent in Qatar to 45.9 percent in Palestine.
Percentage of volunteers, age group 15-19
United Arab Emirates - 2017
United Arab Emirates - 2017
Percentage of volunteers, age group 25-30
United Arab Emirates - 2017
United Arab Emirates - 2017
Percentage of volunteers, age group 20-25
United Arab Emirates - 2017
United Arab Emirates - 2017
