Arab Development Portal

Banking and Finance

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
Qatar - 2017

Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, primary education or less, percent of population ages 15+
undefined - 2017

Banks Real interest rate
Algeria - 2018

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Demography

International

National

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.

Population growth rate
Oman - 2017

Rural population
Sudan - 2009

Urbanization rate, five years
Libya - 2015

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Education

International

National

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, tertiary
Oman - 2016

Net enrollment rate, primary, private
Qatar - 2018

Pupil-teacher ratio, upper secondary
Egypt - 2018

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Energy

International

National

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.

Renewable electricity output, percent of total electricity output
Kuwait - 2015

Renewable energy consumption, percent of total final energy consumption
Comoros - 2015

Access to electricity, urban, percent of urban population
Syria - 2017

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Environment

International

National

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.

PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-3 value, percent of total
Djibouti - 2017

Forest area as a proportion of total land area
Algeria - 2016

Average proportion of Terrestrial Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) covered by protected areas, upper bound
United Arab Emirates - 2018

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Gender

International

National

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.

Seats held by women in national parliaments
Bahrain - 2018

Seats held by women in national parliaments
Yemen - 2018

Firms with female participation in ownership, percent of firms
Lebanon - 2013

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Governance

International

National

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 operating license
Tunisia - 2013

Perceptions of corruption and bribery, health sector
Tunisia - 2017

Percentage of firms identifying corruption as a major constraint
Tunisia - 2013

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Health

International

National

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.

Polio Pol3 vaccination coverage, percent of one-year-old children
Comoros - 2017

Prevalence of insufficient physical activity among adults aged 18+
Jordan - 2016

Domestic general government health expenditure as a percentage of GDP
Oman - 2016

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I C T

International

National

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.

Proportion of persons employed routinely using the Internet, large enterprises, 250+ employees
Egypt - 2016

Proportion of businesses using the Internet for instant messaging, bulletin boards, small enterprises, 10-49 employees
Oman - 2011

Proportion of businesses using the Internet for staff training, all enterprises
Oman - 2011

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Labor and Employment

International

National

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 age group, 25-34
Palestine - 2017

Annual growth rate of output per worker, estimates
Morocco - 2018

Unemployment distribution by education, university and above
Syria - 2017

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Macroeconomy

International

National

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.

Foreign direct investment, net inflows, percent of GDP
Comoros - 2018

Inflation, year-on-year percentage change of the consumer price index, annual average
Lebanon - 2019

Trade in services, percentage of GDP
Kuwait - 2018

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Poverty

International

National

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 headcount ratio at $3.20 a day, 2011 PPP, as a percentage of the population
Lebanon - 2011

Proportion of the population covered by social insurance programs
Yemen - 2005

Household poverty gap, urban
Algeria - 2005

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Trade

International

National

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.

Exports, manufactures, percentage of merchandise exports
Libya - 2010

Imports, fuel, percentage of merchandise imports
Libya - 2010

Imports, expenditures, international tourism, percentage of total imports
Djibouti - 2017

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Water and Food Security

International

National

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.

Population supplied by water supply industry
Lebanon - 2009

Proportion of population using improved water supplies, accessible on premises
Sudan - 2015

Average dietary energy supply adequacy, 3-year average
Lebanon - 2016

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Youth

International

National

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

Percentage of volunteers, age group 20-25
United Arab Emirates - 2017

Percentage of volunteers, age group 25-30
United Arab Emirates - 2017

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