What Are the Countries that Make up the Arab States

The Arab world is considered an area of the world that encompasses the region from the Atlantic Ocean near northern Africa east to the Arabian Sea. Its northern boundary is at the Mediterranean Sea, while the southern portion extends to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean (map). In general, this area is tied together as a region because all of the countries within it are Arabic-speaking. Some of the countries list Arabic as their only official language, while others speak it, in addition to other languages. UNESCO identifies 23 Arab countries, while the Arab League—a regional multi-national organization of Arabic-speaking countries that was formed in 1945—has 22 members. The one state listed by UNESCO that is not part of the Arab League is Malta and is marked for easier recognition by an asterisk (*). The following is a list of all these nations arranged in alphabetical order, including each countrys population and language information. All population and language data were obtained from the CIA World Factbook and are from July 2018. 1) AlgeriaPopulation: 41,657,488Official Languages: Arabic and Berber or Tamazight (with French as lingua franca) 2) BahrainPopulation: 1,442,659Official Language: Arabic 3) ComorosPopulation: 821,164Official Languages: Arabic, French, Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic; Comorian) 4) DjiboutiPopulation: 884,017Official Languages: French and Arabic 5) EgyptPopulation: 99,413,317Official Language: Arabic 6) IraqPopulation: 40,194,216Official Languages: Arabic and Kurdish. Turkmen (a Turkish dialect), Syriac (Neo-Aramaic), and Armenian are official in areas where speakers of these languages constitute a majority of the population 7) JordanPopulation: 10,458,413Official Language: Arabic 8) KuwaitPopulation: 2,916,467 (note:  Kuwaits Public Authority for Civil Information estimates the countrys total population to be 4,437,590 for 2017, with immigrants accounting for more than 69.5%.)Official Language: Arabic 9) LebanonPopulation: 6,100,075Official Language: Arabic 10) LibyaPopulation: 6,754,507Official Language: Arabic 11) Malta*Population: 449,043Official Languages: Maltese and English 12) MauritaniaPopulation: 3,840,429Official Language: Arabic 13) MoroccoPopulation: 34,314,130Official Languages: Arabic and Tamazight (a Berber language) 14) OmanPopulation: 4,613,241 (note: as of 2017, immigrants make up approximately 45% of the total population)Official Language: Arabic 15) Palestine (recognized as an independent country by UNESCO and Arab League but not recognized by CIA)Population: 4,981,420 (with 42.8% of refugees)Official Language: Arabic 16) QatarPopulation: 2,363,569Official Language: Arabic 17) Saudi ArabiaPopulation: 33,091,113Official Language: Arabic 18) SomaliaPopulation: 11,259,029 (note: this number is only an estimate, as population counting in Somalia is complicated due to nomads and refugees)Official Languages: Somali and Arabic 19) SudanPopulation: 43,120,843Official Languages: Arabic and English 20) SyriaPopulation: 19,454,263Official Language: Arabic 21) TunisiaPopulation: 11,516,189Official Language: Arabic. (French is not official but a language of commerce and spoken by the majority of the population) 22) United Arab EmiratesPopulation: 9,701,3115Official Language: Arabic 23) YemenPopulation: 28,667,230Official Language: Arabic Note: Wikipedia lists the Palestinian Authority—an administrative organization which governs parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip—as an Arab state. Similarly, UNESCO lists Palestine as one of the Arab states and the State of Palestine is a member of the Arab League. However, the CIA World Factbook does not recognize it as an actual state and the population and language data are therefore from other sources. On the other hand, the CIA lists Western Sahara as an independent country, with a population of 619,551 and languages such as Hassaniya Arabic and Moroccan Arabic. Yet, UNESCO and the Arab League dont recognize it as a country of its own, considering it a part of Morocco. Sources â€Å"Arab States.†Ã‚  UNESCO.â€Å"Ø ¬Ã˜ §Ã™â€¦Ã˜ ¹Ã˜ © Ø §Ã™â€žÃ˜ ¯Ã™Ë†Ã™â€ž Ø §Ã™â€žÃ˜ ¹Ã˜ ±Ã˜ ¨Ã™Å Ã˜ ©.†Ã‚  Ã˜ ¬Ã˜ §Ã™â€¦Ã˜ ¹Ã˜ © Ø §Ã™â€žÃ˜ ¯Ã™Ë†Ã™â€ž Ø §Ã™â€žÃ˜ ¹Ã˜ ±Ã˜ ¨Ã™Å Ã˜ ©, League of Arab States.The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, 1 Feb. 2018.â€Å"Population Matters.†Ã‚  UNFPA Palestine, United Nations Population Fund. 1 Nov. 2016.â€Å"Languages.† VisitPalestine, 1 July 2016.