PERCENTAGE of the population of the Middle East that is under 25 years old.
Source: Idaho State University
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Mapping Specialists/Jim McMahon
2022 Facts & Figures: MIDDLE EAST
TOTAL COUNTRIES: 16
TOTAL POPULATION: 435 MILLION
Vahid Salemi/AP Images
60%
60%
DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy Stock Photo
The site of ancient Babylon is in the modern-day city of Hillah, Iraq.
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
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
Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images (Algebra); Roman Samokhin/Shutterstock.com (Lemons); SpicyTruffel/Shutterstock.com (Chemicals); Stuart Monk/Shutterstock.com (Guitar); Seregam/Shutterstock.com (Paper)
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
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