Which are the Best Countries in the Middle East?

Dominated by Muslim countries, the Middle East has severe problems with human rights, gender equality, cultural misogyny, religious tolerance₇₁ and its treatment of LGBT folk.₇₂. The non-Islamic country of Cyprus treats its people the best; but others such as Israel are caught up in long-term conflicts and misbehaviours.

There are 17 locations that fall within this category. By adding up all the known populations that fall within these locations, and summing their physical land areas, we can calculate population densities. Some islands and territories can end up being counted twice depending on how they are classified and divided up politically, but, mostly such errors involve only small populations. So, some data on this collection of countries in total:

• Population: 434.4m
• Land Area: 7 242 420km²
• Independent States: 16
• Other Territories: 1
• Compare to other regions of the world

1. Summary Data
2. Social and Moral Development
3. Demographics and Migration
4. Responsibility Towards The Environment
5. Culture, Peace and Inequality
   1. Are Borders in the Middle East Problematic?
6. Modernity and Learning
7. Health
8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance
9. Religion and Beliefs
10. Links

1. Summary Data

#economics #human_development #population #wealth

This page only shows places where the database has enough data to be able to come to reasonable conclusions about each place. The main focus is on nation states, but, some distinct external territories may be listed if the database has enough information about them. Averages are calculated from as many valid data points as possible, meaning, that some territories and locations that are not listed above may still be used to calculate some of the average values. Some calculations only use Independent State data - hover the cursor over values to see hints.

Links:

• Compare to other regions of the world
• Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?
• The Population of the Earth
• Homosexuality in Animals and Humans

2. Social and Moral Development

#charitability #climate_change #culture #education #equality #freedom #gender_equality #health #human_development #human_rights #modernity #morals #peace #politics #prejudice #technology #the_environment #the_internet #tolerance

Here are each country's overall scores across the categories that make up the Social and Moral Development Index. This is followed by lists of how each country scores in each individual data set.

The Social and Moral Development Index concentrates on moral issues and human rights, violence, public health, equality, tolerance, freedom and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and environmentalism, and on some technological issues. A country scores higher for achieving well in those areas, and for sustaining that achievement in the long term. Those countries towards the top of this index can truly said to be setting good examples and leading humankind onwards into a bright, humane, and free future. See: Which are the Best Countries in the World? The Social and Moral Development Index.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2026).

3. Demographics and Migration

#birth_control #demographics #emigration #health #immigration #life_expectancy #longevity #migration #overpopulation #population #the_middle_east

Population:

Migration:

The countries in The Middle East with the highest percent of immigrants in their populations are UAE (88.4%), Kuwait (75.5%) and Qatar (65.2%), although the average for The Middle East is 29%. When it comes to emigration the highest rates are Palestine (68.4%), Cyprus (17.0%) and Lebanon (15.6%), with a regional average of 10% who have crossed a national border to live elsewhere.

For full commentary and data, see:

• Which Country in the Middle East Has the Most Immigrants Or Emigrants?

4. Responsibility Towards The Environment

#biodiversity #climate_change #deforestation #energy #environmentalism #food #internationalism #meat #over-exploitation #sustainability #the_environment #veganism #vegetarianism

We have known for a long term that we must protect the environment from habitation destruction, over-exploitation, pollution, and the emissions that cause climate change. In 1998, Greenpeace wrote that "Environment can no longer be meaningfully separated from health, quality of life, democracy, education, economy or trade"₁₂. What countries have been doing the right thing, via legislation and national culture? All countries' current and historical approach towards the environment is gauged via 21 datasets, including multiple decades of data on its forested percent change 2000-2020, its environmental performance, energy to GDP efficiency, its sign-up rate to major international accords on protecting the environment, the rate of rational beliefs on the environment in the population, reducing annual meat consumption per person and its score on the Green Future Index.

The countries that do the best (Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Switzerland) tend to have avoided the excesses of early industrial countries, and have not yet repeated the same mistakes of environmental destruction - at least, not on the same scale. The regions with the best average results per country are Central America, South America and Scandinavia. The worst are Eritrea, The Vatican City and Timor-Leste (E. Timor), and the worst regions Micronesia, Australasia and Melanesia.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Best Environmental Records" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

5. Culture, Peace and Inequality

#capitalism #charity #corruption #culture #economics #equality #extremism #freedom #happiness #health #human_development #inequality #internationalism #life_expectancy #morals #peace #politics #poverty #religious_violence #social_development #terrorism

This is the final pillar of the Social and Moral Development Index; it has 39 datasets, including multiple decades of data on resisting corruption, Creativity and Culture, overall happiness, Open Trading, Aid and Development, passport utility (so far), personal financial stability, World Giving Index, its Global Peace Index rating, Peacekeeping and Security, Refugees and UN Treaties, the impact of terrorism, poverty (so far), life expectancy inequality, Income Inequality (Gini Coefficient) and Multidimensional Poverty.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2026).

National Culture:

The Middle East does poorly on fighting corruption compared to the other regions of the world. Syria and Yemen are two of the five most corrupt countries in the world according to Transparency International's 2022 data₇₃. The countries in the region doing the best are the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Qatar.

Peace Versus Instability:

9.1. Are Borders in the Middle East Problematic?₇₄

#borders #colonialism #human_development #iran #iraq #religion #sectarianism #south_sudan #sudan #violence #war

Although it improved, Middle East and North Africa remains the least peaceful region in the world for the sixth consecutive year₇₅ according to the Global Peace Index's compendium of statistics. "Sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia [is] a major feature of conflicts in the Middle East today"₇₆ writes one author, with each nation having a single dominant Islamic denomination that encourages discrimination, intolerance and obstacle-building for others. Despite ongoing comments by some leaders and the occasional political theorist that the Middle East's conflicts today are a result of historical colonial empires drawing arbitrary borders, it is in general not true. Europe´s own post-independence borders have just the same arbitrariness, as do many in the world, and yet exist in a settled and peaceful manner₇₇. Many borders, such as in the Balkans, were never set by colonial powers and yet have enduring conflicts. Religious groups and some ethnic groups are simply determined to fight; if there´s a border, they fight over the border. If there is no border, they fight within a single country. The borders themselves are rarely the actual cause of the conflict, nor the solution to it. Also, borders that were set by indigenous processes suffer violence too - for example, the new (2011) border between Sudan and South Sudan remains the most problematic and dangerously violent region in the world_78,79, despite the fact that it was defined locally.₇₇. Many borders in the Middle East do follow sensible lines, according to historical precedent and local customs.

“Present-day [borders have] key similarities with the local Ottoman boundaries in place before the French and British arrived. The three separate provinces - Mosul, Baghdad and Basra - that were joined to make Iraq, for example, were often treated as a coherent economic and military area by the Ottoman government [and] going back to the origins of human civilization, had long been recognized in the term Mesopotamia.

Meanwhile, the fact that Iraq's eastern border with Iran followed a line set by the 16th-century conquests of Suleiman the Magnificent didn't prevent the countries from fighting a decade-long conflict over it that killed ten times more people than all the Arab-Israeli wars combined. [...] The only country in the area for which no ancient borders existed was Jordan - it was formed in 1922 from some not-too-desirable bits of arid land as something for Britain's ally, Abdullah, to be king of [and] Jordan has been spared much of the turmoil endured by its less artificial neighbors.”

"Stop Blaming Colonial Borders for the Middle East's Problems"
Nick Danforth (2013)₇₇

Economic Inequality and Poverty:

6. Modernity and Learning

#education #english #intelligence #it_security #maths #metric #modernity #politics #religion #religiosity #research #science #secularisation #technology #the_internet

The most modern countries, with the best results from education, the highest levels of research, and with the easiest access to information on the Internet, are Finland, Iceland and Denmark₄₁. The worst countries are S. Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia₄₁. Despite improves in global education, access to tertiary (adult) education is becoming increasingly unequal between the rich haves and the poor have-nots₄₂.

“Education, at all levels and ages, is the single most vital support for equality as well as being a country's most vital economic and social resource. [...] Every successful aspirant to modernisation and economic development, from Japan to South Korea, China to Chile, has got there with a big emphasis on education.”

Bill Emmott (2017)₄₃

27 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on Research and Development, Intellectual Endeavours, metric system adoption rate, Religiosity, IQ, Secondary Education, Length of Schooling, Maths, Science & Reading, the percent of citizens with access to the internet, Freedom On The Internet, IT Security, IPv6 Uptake and digital quality of life. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Baltic States and Europe₄₁, whereas the worst are Melanesia, Africa and Micronesia₄₁.

For more, see:

• " Which Countries are Most Modern, With the Best Education and Internet Access?" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Modernity:

Education:

Technology and Information:

7. Health

#2010s #alcohol #birth_control #children's_health #demographics #health #life_expectancy #longevity #mental_health #obesity #overpopulation #parenting #population #smoking #suicide #vaccines

The countries with the best overall approach to public health, in terms of both public policy and individual lifestyle choices, are Monaco, Liechtenstein and Japan₆₁. These countries are worth emulating. And, although often through no fault of the average citizen, the worst countries are Angola, Somalia and S. Sudan₆₁.

42 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on its average life expectancy, its alcohol consumption rate, its fertility rate, its smoking rate, its suicide rate, its food aid and health contributions and WHO compliance, the prevalence of overweight adults, obesity rate, its adolescent birth rate, delivery rate of infant DTP immunizations, delivery rate of 7x Infant Immunizations 2011-2015 and childhood mortality. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Europe and The Mediterranean₆₁, whereas the worst are Micronesia, Africa and Melanesia₆₁.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Healthiest Cultures and Health Policies" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Health:

Children's Health:

8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance

#equality #freedom #gender_equality #human_rights #morals #politics #prejudice #The_Middle_East #tolerance

The best countries in The Middle East at protecting human rights, engendering tolerance and supporting equality, are Cyprus, Israel and Turkey but the bloc as a whole does poorly compared to the global average. The worst countries are Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria. In short, The Middle East has severe problems with human rights, gender equality, misogyny, religious tolerance₇₁ and LGBT equality. Acceptance of human-rights principles is largely impossible given the prominence of Islamic theocracy which is sternly opposed to human rights. This is the worst region in the world for religion-based persecution₇₁.

“The Arab World [is] a region where the mean and median levels of performance [at ensuring human rights and freedom] are probably most charitably labeled poor.”

"Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice"
Jack Donnelly (2013)₇₂

For full commentary and data, see:

• Human Rights, Equality and Tolerance in the Middle East: A Very Unhappy Picture

9. Religion and Beliefs

#belief #buddhism #christianity #folk_religion #god #hinduism #human_development #islam #judaism #no_religion #religion #religiosity #secularisation

Links:

• Compare to other regions of the world
• A List of All Religions and Belief Systems
• Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls
• Secularisation Theory: Will Modern Society Reject Religion? What is Secularism?
• Human Religions