The Arab League is a regional organization of 22 countries where (a dialect of) the Arabic language is spoken. The following table shows the nominal GDP of its member states in billions USD in 2016:
Country | Nominal GDP in billion 2016 USD (World Bank) | Note |
---|---|---|
TOTAL (Arab League) | 2,434 | the sum of constituent member’s GDP |
Saudi Arabia | 646 | |
United Arab Emirates | 349 | |
Egypt | 336 | |
Iraq | 171 | |
Algeria | 156 | |
Qatar | 152 | |
Kuwait | 115 | 2015, adjusted |
Morocco | 101 | |
Sudan | 96 | |
Oman | 66 | |
Lebanon | 48 | |
Tunisia | 42 | |
Jordan | 39 | |
Libya | 39 | IMF estimate |
Bahrain | 32 | |
Yemen | 27 | |
Palestine | 14 | IMF projection |
Syria | 10 | Projection of a 2015 IMF estimate |
Somalia | 6 | |
Mauritania | 5 | |
Djibouti | 2 | 2015, adjusted |
Comoros | 1 |
Please note that there are no recent GDP data available for war-stricken Syria. However, the IMF estimated the nominal GDP of Syria to be just 14 billion USD in 2015, falling from 59 billion in 2011 by about 30% every year, and Syria’s economy is expected to continue shrinking until at least 2020.
How does the total compare with the rest of the world? If the Arab League were a sovereign nation, it would have the seventh largest GDP in the world, after France and before India:
Rank (world) | Country | Nominal GDP in billion 2016 USD (World Bank) |
---|---|---|
5 | United Kingdom | 2,629 |
6 | France | 2,465 |
— | Arab League (total) | 2,434 |
7 | India | 2,264 |
8 | Italy | 1,850 |
Per capita figures
Of course, the nominal GDP figures above say little about the state of each country’s economy. This is more accurately captured by nominal GDP per capita (that is, GDP divided by population):
Country | Nominal GDP (2016 USD) per capita (World Bank) |
---|---|
Qatar | 59,331 |
United Arab Emirates | 37,622 |
Kuwait | 28,140 |
Bahrain | 22,354 |
Saudi Arabia | 20,029 |
Oman | 14,982 |
Lebanon | 7,914 |
Arab League | 5,988 |
Iraq | 4,610 |
Jordan | 4,088 |
Algeria | 3,844 |
Tunisia | 3,689 |
Egypt | 3,514 |
Libya | 3,252 |
Palestine | 2,973 |
Morocco | 2,876 |
Sudan | 2,415 |
Djibouti | 1,833 |
Mauritania | 1,078 |
Yemen | 990 |
Comoros | 775 |
Syria | 543 |
Somalia | 434 |
The table shows that wealth is mostly concentrated in just a few Arab nations, while the rest remains relatively poor.