Mapping Specialists/Jim McMahon

2022 Facts & Figures: MIDDLE EAST

November 1, 2021

TOTAL COUNTRIES: 16

TOTAL POPULATION: 435 MILLION

60%

PERCENTAGE of the population of the Middle East that is under 25 years old.

^{Source: Idaho State University}

Oldest Civilization

Mesopotamia is where the world’s earliest civilization developed. The name Mesopotamia comes from a Greek word meaning “between rivers,” referring to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but the region includes the area that is now eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and most of Iraq.

^{Source: Encyclopedia Britannica}

21 million

SIZE in square feet of the world’s largest shopping mall, which is in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Malls are essentially a modern version of the ancient bazaars full of different shops that flourished in the Middle East for centuries.

^{Source: worldatlas.com}

Borrowed Words

Many English words come from Arabic, especially words related to science, which illustrates the influence of Middle Eastern scientists in the Middle Ages. source: idaho state university