MENA

The term MENA, for "Middle East and North Africa", is an acronym often used in academic and business writing. The term generally covers an extensive region, extending from Morocco in northwest Africa to Iran in southwest Asia. It generally includes all the Arab Middle East and North Africa countries, as well as Iran but not Turkey.^[1]

List of countries

MENA has no standardized definition; certain organizations define the region as making up different territories.

World Bank definition

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Morocco
• Oman
• Palestinian territories (the West Bank and Gaza Strip)
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Tunisia
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

Other regions in the Greater Middle East and North Africa

Some organizations, such as the Group of 8 have larger and more inclusive definitions of the Middle East which include most of the above territories as well as:

• Afghanistan
• Cyprus
• Mauritania
• Pakistan
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Turkey

Population

The population of the MENA region as it is typically defined comprises about 6% of the total world population, and is equivalent in number to one third of the population of the People's Republic of China. The population of the MENA region is almost equivalent to the population of the European Union, and is one and a quarter times larger than the population of the United States.

Resources

The MENA region has vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas that make it a vital source of global economic stability. According to the Oil and Gas Journal (January 1, 2007), the MENA region has 70% of the world's oil reserves (797.04 billion barrels) and 46% of the world's natural gas reserves (2.8413 quadrilion cubic feet). 2. As of 2007, 8 of the 12 OPEC nations are within the MENA region. 3

References

1. ^ World Bank document on the definition of MENA

External links

• World Bank page on MENA

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