The Arab world consists of the 22 members of the Arab League. As of 2023, the combined population of all the Arab states was around 473 million people.[1]
The most populous Arab state is Egypt, the North African nation with a population of 109 million residents. Comoros, the Indian Ocean nation is the least populated, with around 821,625 inhabitants. The largest city in the Arab World is Cairo, Egypt.[2]
Population growth
The population of the Arab world as estimated in 2023 was about 473 million inhabitants,[3] but no exact figures of the annual population growth, fertility rate, or mortality rate are known to exist.
Over 59 percent of the Arab population is concentrated in urban areas[4] and the number is expected to reach 68 percent by 2050.[5]
The overwhelming majority of the Arab citizens are Muslims,[6] with Christians being the largest minority group.[7] The Arab countries host several holy cities and other religiously significant locations, including Alexandria, Mecca, Medina, Kirkuk, Arbil, and Baghdad. Sunni Muslims constitute vast majority of the Arab world's residents. However, Shi'a make up the slight majority in areas of Iraq,[8] and Bahrain.[9]
Many Arab countries in the Persian Gulf have sizable (10–30%) non-Arab populations. Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman have a 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. Additionally, countries like Bahrain, UAE, Oman and Kuwait have significant non-Arab and non-Muslim minorities (10–20%) like Hindus and Christians from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines.[citation needed]
The table below shows the distribution of populations in the Arab world and Palestine, as well as the official language(s) within the various Arab states.
The Mixing between Arabs and Berbers in Algeria makes it difficult to trace the roots of many people. The percentage mentioned also includes people with Berber roots and identify themselves as Arabs.
The Mixing between Arabs and Berbers in Morocco makes it difficult to trace the roots of many people. The percentage mentioned also includes people with Berber roots and identify themselves as Arabs.
Qatari citizens are about 20% of the total population and they are mostly Arab Qahhah. About 20% of the remaining population is made of Arab immigrants, mostly Egyptians and Levantines. The rest are non-Arab foreign workers such as Indians and Pakistanis.
The Mixing between Arabs and Berbers in Tunisia makes it difficult to trace the roots of many people. The percentage mentioned also includes people with Berber roots and identify themselves as Arabs.
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 to 250,000) and Syria (100,000 to 150,000) as well as Palestine, 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.
Prior to World War I, there were some 2,000–3,000 Armenians in Palestine, mostly in Jerusalem. From 1915 and onward, thousands of Armenian genocide survivors from Cilicia (Adana Vilayet) found refuge, and settled in Palestine, increasing its Armenian population.[51][52] In 1925, around 15,000 Armenians are believed to have lived in all of Palestine, with the majority in Jerusalem.[51] During Mandatory Palestine period, the number of Armenians is estimated to have reached up to 20,000.[51][53] However, the 1931 British census showed only 3,524 Armenians in all of Palestine.[51]
A large number of Armenian monks are recorded to have settled in Jerusalem as early as the 4th century,[54][55] after the uncovering of Christian holy places in the city.[51] However, the first written records are from the 5th century.[56] Jerusalem is thus considered the oldest living diaspora community outside the Armenian homeland.[57] Nowadays, there are estimated 7500 living in the region of Historical Palestine.[58]
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 400,000. 500,000 are in Syria but are harder to identify, because they are often included in with the general Christian population and speak Arabic, however the Christians of the Tur Abdin and Al Hasakah regions in the north east are predominantly Assyrian.[citation needed]
The town of Aït Benhaddou is a typical desert Amazigh town; the Berbers (Amazigh) are the largest non-Arab ethnicity in the Arab world.
Berbers are an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa. They are distributed in an area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River. Historically, they spoke Berber languages, which together form the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Since the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the seventh century, a large number of Berbers inhabiting the Maghreb have acquired different degrees of knowledge of varieties of Maghrebi Arabic.[59]
Circassians
Circassians are a people who originate in the North Caucasus. They are predominantly Muslim, and can be found in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt in relatively small numbers.[60][61]
The Jewish tribes of Arabia were Arabian tribes professing the Jewish faith that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before and during the advent of Islam. It is not always clear whether they were originally Israelite in ancestry, genealogically Arab tribes that converted to Judaism, or a mixture of both. In Islamic tradition the Jewish tribes of the Hejaz were seen as the offspring of the ancient Israelites.[63]: 4–5 According to Muslim sources, they spoke a language other than Arabic, which Al-Tabari claims was Persian. This implies they were connected to the major Jewish center in Babylon.[63]: 5 Certain Jewish traditions records the existence of nomadic tribes such as the Rechabites that converted to Judaism in antiquity. The tribes collapsed with the rise of Islam, with many either converting or fleeing the Arab peninsula. Some of those tribes are thought to have merged into Yemenite Jewish community, while others, like the residents of Yatta consider themselves Islamized descendants of Khaybar, a Jewish tribe of Arabia.[64]
Jews from Arab countries – included in the Mizrahi Jewish communities– are not categorized as, and do not consider themselves to be, Arabs, as Jews are a separate nation from Arabs, with different history and culture.[65] However, sometimes the term Arab Jews is used to describe Jews from Arab countries, though the term is highly controversial. Sociologist Sammy Smooha stated "This ("Arab Jews") term does not hold water. It is absolutely not a parallel to 'Arab Christian'".[66] Those who dispute the historicity of the term make the claim that Middle Eastern Jews are similar to Assyrians, Berbers, and other Middle Eastern groups who live in Arab societies as distinct minority groups with distinct identity and therefore are not categorized as Arabs.[citation needed]
Mandaeans, sometimes also called Sabians, are a people found mainly in southern Iraq. Their numbers total no more than 70,000. They follow Mandaeism, a gnostic religion.[68]
Mhallami
Mhallami are a tiny minority of unknown origins who have converted to Islam.[69]
Nubians, found in Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt, are a different ethnicity from their northern and southern 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 Al Dabbah 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.[citation needed]
Roma are to be found in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa; their numbers are unknown. They speak their own language and may loosely follow the predominant religion of the country they live in.[70]
Shabaks
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.[71]
Somalis
Somali and Arabic are the two official languages in Somalia, both of which belong to the Afro-Asiatic family. Article 3 of the constitution outlines the country's founding principles, establishing it as a Muslim state, and a member of the Arab and African nations.[72] About 85% of local residents are ethnic Somalis,[73] who have historically inhabited the northern part of the country.[74] Many self-identify as Somali instead of Arab despite centuries-old ties to Arabia.[75] There are also a number of Bravanese, Bantus, Bajunis, Ethiopians, Indians, Pakistanis, Persians, Britons and Italians.[74][76]
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. Somali and Afar are also recognized national languages.[77]
There is a notable Turkish minority in Egypt; prior to the Egyptian revolution in 1919, the ruling and upper classes were mainly Turkish, or of Turkish descent (see Turks in Egypt), which was part of the heritage from the Ottoman rule of Egypt.[78]
In the Levant the Turks are scattered throughout the region. In Iraq and Syria the Turkish minorities are commonly referred to as "Turkmen", "Turkman" and "Turcoman"; these terms have historically been used to designate Turkish speakers in Arab areas, or Sunni Muslims in Shiite areas.[79] The majority of Iraqi Turkmen and Syrian Turkmen are the descendants of Ottoman Turkish settlers.[80][81][82][83] and share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey, particularly the Anatolian region.[84][83] In 2013 the Iraqi Ministry of Planning estimated that Iraqi Turkmen numbered 3 million out of the country's 34.7 million inhabitants (approximately 9% of the total population).[85] Estimates of the Syrian Turkmen population range from several hundred thousand to 3.5 million.[86] There is also Turkish minorities located in Jordan (Turks in Jordan) and Lebanon (Turks in Lebanon). In Lebanon, they live mainly in the villages of Aydamun and Kouachra in the Akkar District, as well as in Baalbek, Beirut, and Tripoli. The Lebanese Turks number approximately 80,000.[87] However, there has also been a recent influx of Syrian Turkmen refugees (125,000 to 150,000 in 2015) who now outnumber the long establish Ottoman descended Turkish minority.[88]
The Yazidi are a religious Kurdish community who represent an ancient religion that is linked to Zoroastrianism. They number 600,000 in Iraq[89] and between 10,000 and 50,000 in Syria.[90]
In 647 AD (the year 27 of the Hijrah), the first Muslim expedition to Africa took place. By 700 AD, the area had been conquered and converted to the Islamic faith. We know little of the early Islamic town, but by the tenth century the area outside of the fortress was once more filled with houses: on the site of the Roman baths over twelve of these were excavated, with large courtyards surrounded by long, thin, rooms.[92]
^"The Global Religious Landscape: Christians". Pew Research Center. 2012-12-18. ...Christians live as minorities in the Asia-Pacific region (7%) and the Middle East-North Africa region (4%)...
^Shemassian, Vahram (2012). "Armenian Genocide Survivors in the Holy Land at the End of World War I". Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. 21: 247–77.
^Tchilingirian, Hratch. "The Armenian Church: A Brief Introduction"(PDF). hygradaran. Armenian Church Library. p. 8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 April 2019. According to Vatican sources, some 250,000 Armenians are members of the "Armenian Rite" of the Catholic Church (others put the number closer to 150,000) with communities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Jerusalem and the US.
^Lowin, Shari (2010-10-01). "Khaybar". Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Online. Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Brill. pp. 148–150. doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_com_0012910. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via brillonline.com. Khaybar's Jews appear in Arab folklore as well. [...] The Muḥamara family of the Arab village of Yutta, near Hebron, trace their descent to the Jews of Khaybar. Families in other nearby villages tell of similar lineages.
^Abdelrazek, Amal Talaat (2007), Contemporary Arab American women writers: hyphenated identities and border crossings, Cambria Press, p. 37, ISBN978-1-934043-71-4, This interiorized rejection of things local and Arabic in part derives from the fact that the ruling and upper classes in the years before the revolution were mainly Turkish, or of Turkish descent, part of the heritage from the Ottoman rule in Egypt. If one was not really Western, but belonged to the elite, one was Turkish. Only the masses, the country folk, were quite simply Egyptian in the first place, and possibly Arabs secondarily.
^Peyrouse, Sebastien (2015), Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development, Routledge, p. 62, ISBN978-0230115521
^Taylor, Scott (2004), Among the Others: Encounters with the Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq, Esprit de Corps, p. 31, ISBN1-895896-26-6, The largest number of Turkmen immigrants followed the army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent when he conquered all of Iraq in 1535. Throughout their reign, the Ottomans encouraged the settlement of immigrant Turkmen along the loosely formed boundary that divided Arab and Kurdish settlements in northern Iraq.
^Jawhar, Raber Tal'at (2010), "The Iraqi Turkmen Front", in Catusse, Myriam; Karam, Karam (eds.), Returning to Political Parties?, The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, pp. 313–328, ISBN978-1-886604-75-9, There's a strong conflict of opinions regarding the origins of Iraqi Turkmen, however, it is certain that they settled down during the Ottoman rule in the northwest of Mosul, whence they spread to eastern Baghdad. Once there, they became high ranked officers, experts, traders, and executives in residential agglomerations lined up along the vast, fertile plains, and mingled with Kurds, Assyrians, Arabs, and other confessions. With the creation of the new Iraqi state in 1921, Iraqi Turkmen managed to maintain their socioeconomic status.
^International Crisis Group (2008), Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds: Conflict or Cooperation?, International Crisis Group, archived from the original on 12 January 2011, Turkomans are descendents of Ottoman Empire-era soldiers, traders and civil servants... The 1957 census, Iraq's last reliable count before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958, put the country's population at 6,300,000 and the Turkoman population at 567,000, about 9 per cent...Subsequent censuses, in 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997, are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation.
^ abThe New York Times (2015). "Who Are the Turkmens of Syria?". The New York Times. In the context of Syria, though, the term ["Turkmen"] is used somewhat differently, to refer mainly to people of Turkish heritage whose families migrated to Syria from Anatolia during the centuries of the Ottoman period — and thus would be closer kin to the Turks of Turkey than to the Turkmens of Central Asia...Q. How many are there? A. No reliable figures are available, and estimates on the number of Turkmens in Syria and nearby countries vary widely, from the hundreds of thousands up to 3 million or more.
^BBC (June 18, 2004). "Who's who in Iraq: Turkmen". Retrieved 2011-11-23. The predominantly Muslim Turkmen are an ethnic group with close cultural and linguistic ties to Anatolia in Turkey.
^Bassem, Wassim (2016). "Iraq's Turkmens call for independent province". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 2016-10-17. Retrieved 2016-10-17. Turkmens are a mix of Sunnis and Shiites and are the third-largest ethnicity in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, numbering around 3 million out of the total population of about 34.7 million, according to 2013 data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.
^BBC (2015). "Who are the Turkmen in Syria?". BBC News. There are no reliable population figures, but they are estimated to number between about half a million and 3.5 million.
^Bishai, Wilson B. (1962). "Coptic Grammatical Influence on Egyptian Arabic". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 82 (3): 285–289. doi:10.2307/597639. JSTOR597639.
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