The Arab World

Abstract

Arabs are usually defined as those who speak Arabic as their native tongue and inhabit one of the 22 countries that are members of the Arab league. Historically, the Arab region harbours the birthplace of the three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Geographically, the Arab World lies at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Politically, the Arab World is currently going through major changes due to what has been called the Arab Spring. The Arabs share many beliefs, customs, practices and social behaviour and are generally considered as a cohesive unit linguistically, religiously and culturally. This chapter gives a basic background on demographic, economic and health indicators in various Arab countries and shows that the Arab populations are extremely young and have a high literacy rate but significant youth unemployment. Over the last 20 years there have been major improvements in life expectancy and measures of mortality rate in most Arab countries. However, health expenditures in Arab countries are generally below the global average, and there are enormous economic inequalities across the Arab region.