List of MEA Countries
MEA is a designation given to the region of the world made up of the Middle East and Africa. This designation is typically a term used by companies, organizations, and corporations. The designation can be used for miscellaneous marketing, distribution and customer support services. In this article we have compiled a comprehensive list of countries in this region. In addition to the list of countries, we have assembled other unique information about the region. This data and information is categorized below, starting with the background of the region broken into the Middle Eastern states and then Africa. It is important to note that while the countries in the MEA region have much in common; MEA also has a great deal of attributes that are distinctive from country to country. MEA countries also share the same block of time zones making trade and business dealings simpler. You might also see the acronym MENA, which stands for Middle East and North Africa. This is another common grouping based on the fact that these are majority Arab and Arabic-speaking countries.
List of Middle East And Africa Countries Part of MEA
Get the Excel Version of this MEA List Here
| Country |
|---|
| Turkey |
| Iraq |
| Saudi Arabia |
| Yemen |
| Syria |
| United Arab Emirates |
| Israel |
| Jordan |
| Palestine |
| Lebanon |
| Oman |
| Kuwait |
| Qatar |
| Bahrain |
| Iran |
| Nigeria |
| Ethiopia |
| Egypt |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| South Africa |
| Tanzania |
| Kenya |
| Algeria |
| Uganda |
| Sudan |
| Morocco |
| Ghana |
| Mozambique |
| Ivory Coast |
| Madagascar |
| Angola |
| Cameroon |
| Niger |
| Burkina Faso |
| Mali |
| Malawi |
| Zambia |
| Senegal |
| Zimbabwe |
| Chad |
| Guinea |
| Tunisia |
| Rwanda |
| South Sudan |
| Benin |
| Somalia |
| Burundi |
| Togo |
| Libya |
| Sierra Leone |
| Central African Republic |
| Eritrea |
| Republic of the Congo |
| Liberia |
| Mauritania |
| Gabon |
| Namibia |
| Botswana |
| Lesotho |
| Equatorial Guinea |
| Gambia |
| Guinea-Bissau |
| Mauritius |
| Swaziland |
| Djibouti |
| Réunion |
| Comoros |
| Western Sahara |
| Cape Verde |
| Mayotte |
| São Tomé and Príncipe |
| Seychelles |
MEA Countries by Population 2024
| Country | Population |
|---|---|
| Nigeria | 229,152,217 |
| Ethiopia | 129,719,719 |
| Egypt | 114,484,252 |
| DR Congo | 105,625,114 |
| Iran | 89,809,781 |
| Turkey | 86,089,328 |
| Tanzania | 69,419,073 |
| South Africa | 60,786,033 |
| Kenya | 56,203,030 |
| Uganda | 49,924,252 |
| Sudan | 49,358,228 |
| Iraq | 46,523,657 |
| Algeria | 46,278,751 |
| Afghanistan | 43,349,960 |
| Morocco | 38,211,459 |
| Angola | 37,804,634 |
| Saudi Arabia | 37,268,107 |
| Yemen | 35,219,853 |
| Mozambique | 34,858,402 |
| Ghana | 34,777,522 |
| Madagascar | 31,056,610 |
| Ivory Coast | 29,317,616 |
| Cameroon | 29,101,971 |
| Niger | 28,238,972 |
| Mali | 24,015,789 |
| Syria | 23,904,950 |
| Burkina Faso | 23,840,247 |
| Malawi | 21,475,962 |
| Zambia | 21,134,695 |
| Chad | 18,622,202 |
| Somalia | 18,706,922 |
| Senegal | 18,221,657 |
| Zimbabwe | 17,020,321 |
| Guinea | 14,528,770 |
| Rwanda | 14,290,748 |
| Benin | 14,080,072 |
| Burundi | 13,454,333 |
| Tunisia | 12,564,689 |
| Jordan | 11,384,922 |
| South Sudan | 11,277,092 |
| United Arab Emirates | 9,563,117 |
| Israel | 9,257,269 |
| Togo | 9,260,864 |
| Sierra Leone | 8,977,972 |
| Libya | 6,964,197 |
| Republic of the Congo | 6,191,171 |
| Central African Republic | 5,915,627 |
| Liberia | 5,536,949 |
| Palestine | 5,446,976 |
| Lebanon | 5,219,044 |
| Mauritania | 4,993,922 |
| Oman | 4,713,553 |
| Kuwait | 4,349,380 |
| Eritrea | 3,791,085 |
| Gambia | 2,841,803 |
| Qatar | 2,737,061 |
| Botswana | 2,719,694 |
| Namibia | 2,629,634 |
| Gabon | 2,4365,863 |
| Lesotho | 2,346,114 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 2,179,211 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 1,754,993 |
| Bahrain | 1,498,712 |
| Mauritius | 1,301,978 |
| Eswatini | 1,222,075 |
| Djibouti | 1,152,329 |
| Reunion | 986,455 |
| Comoros | 867,605 |
| Cape Verde | 602,168 |
| Western Sahara | 598,385 |
| Mayotte | 342,070 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | 236,281 |
| Seychelles | 108,263 |
| Total MEA Population | 1,971,292,589 |
The Middle East
The Middle East refers to the region of the world around the southern and eastern edges of the Mediterranean Sea extending throughout the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. It is considered the birthplace of some of the world’s oldest religions, including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The Middle East is crucial to world affairs not just because of its strategic geographical location but because emerging markets are growing exponentially. Home to oil reserves, Middle Eastern countries are hubs for international investment and business.
Middle East Countries Part of MEA
| Country |
|---|
| Turkey |
| Iraq |
| Saudi Arabia |
| Yemen |
| Syria |
| United Arab Emirates |
| Israel |
| Jordan |
| Palestine |
| Lebanon |
| Oman |
| Kuwait |
| Qatar |
| Bahrain |
| Iran |
Africa
Africa is the second largest continent on Earth. With over 1.4 billion inhabitants, Africans account for one/sixth of the world’s total population. Islam first spread into Africa in 639 A.D. and remains the largest followed religion on the continent. The second most followed religion is Christianity. Geographically it shares the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and the Suez Canal with its other half in the MEA, the Middle East.
African Countries Part of the MEA Region
| Country |
|---|
| Nigeria |
| Ethiopia |
| Egypt |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| South Africa |
| Tanzania |
| Kenya |
| Algeria |
| Uganda |
| Sudan |
| Morocco |
| Ghana |
| Mozambique |
| Ivory Coast |
| Madagascar |
| Angola |
| Cameroon |
| Niger |
| Burkina Faso |
| Mali |
| Malawi |
| Zambia |
| Senegal |
| Zimbabwe |
| Chad |
| Guinea |
| Tunisia |
| Rwanda |
| South Sudan |
| Benin |
| Somalia |
| Burundi |
| Togo |
| Libya |
| Sierra Leone |
| Central African Republic |
| Eritrea |
| Republic of the Congo |
| Liberia |
| Mauritania |
| Gabon |
| Namibia |
| Botswana |
| Lesotho |
| Equatorial Guinea |
| Gambia |
| Guinea-Bissau |
| Mauritius |
| Swaziland |
| Djibouti |
| Réunion |
| Comoros |
| Western Sahara |
| Cape Verde |
| Mayotte |
| São Tomé and Príncipe |
| Seychelles |
Languages Spoken in MEA Countries
The MEA is home to a number of languages, one of most widely used being Arabic. Arabic is spoken in the Levant; Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan as well as the Gulf States; Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Iraq and Kuwait. The Gulf States all speak the closest form of Arabic to MSA. MSA is the abbreviation used for Modern Standard Arabic, known as fusha in Arabic. It is the form of Arabic used in professional and academic settings; however, dialectal Arabic (that differs from country to country) is used in everyday life, known as ammiya. Arabic is also spoken by over 150 million people in Africa, mostly throughout the Northern African countries of Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Sudan. English is prevalent throughout the entire MEA region.
Other common languages used are Hebrew, French (throughout the Levant and Northern Africa) Farsi, Turkish, Swahili, Berber, Hausa, Portuguese, Spanish, Setswana, Kirundi, Tigrinya, and Amharic. South Africa alone has 11 official languages.
MEA Region Demographics
The region is one of the most youthful in the world, with Oman, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinian Occupied Territories all having over 50% of their populations under the age of 24.
For the African states, of the 47 countries and 6 islands (counted for our purposes as countries) the percentage of youth as a part of the total population is even higher. 35 African states have over 60% of their population under the age of 24. Because of the rapid population growth, predictions show that 1 in 4 people on the planet will be African by 2050. This age demographic as well as the growing middle class in Africa has created a huge surge in social media usage. Social media usage is becoming more and more accessible due in part to cheaper smartphones available now as well as increased internet penetration rates throughout the continent. Currently, internet penetration stands at 43% throughout Africa and has been consistently rising over the past years. Internet penetration rates are soaring in the Middle East, currently standing at just below 80% with rates close to 100% in the Gulf countries. These common threads throughout the MEA region is causing companies to not only take a closer look at the region but pool more resources to focus on growing interest there. Because of this, creative marketing in multiple arenas and languages is essential to reach this new assortment of consumers.
References:
World Economic Outlook Database
Other Region Lists
