2024 Facts & Figures: MIDDLE EAST

The world’s busiest international airport is in the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.). In 2022, Dubai International Airport served more than 64 million passengers. Dubai has become a major travel hub, with direct flights to more than 250 places around the world.

^{Sources: Reuters, flightsfrom.com}

PERCENTAGE INCREASE in the price of food in IRAN in the last year. Staple items such as onions and red meat have tripled in price. But that’s only part of the country’s economic disaster, which is driven primarily by government mismanagement and U.S. sanctions. Iran’s annual inflation rate is more than 50 percent. 

^{Sources: Al Jazeera, Iran International}

The United Nations estimates that rebuilding after the devastating earthquake in southern TÜRKIYE last February will cost more than $100 billion—possibly significantly more. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed, and officials say failure to follow proper earthquake building codes is part of the reason the damage was so severe. 

^{Source: U.S. News & World Report}

AMOUNT the government of SAUDI ARABIA has committed to spend over the next few years promoting the nation as a tourism destination. Visiting the country as a tourist has been permitted only since 2019. However, Saudi Arabia has long hosted upward of a million foreign Muslims annually for the hajj, the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca required of all Muslims once in their lives.

^{Sources: Arabian Business, NPR}

PERCENTAGE of Yemen’s population that lives in poverty. Yemen has long been one of the poorest nations in the region, but an eight-year-long civil war and the Covid-19 pandemic have devastated the country.

^{Source: Norwegian Refugee Council}