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FACTS & STATS

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FACTS & STATS
  • Region Economic Statistics
    GDP at current prices (2008): $2.303 trillion
    GDP growth rate (2008): 3.51%
    Exports (2008): US $1.194 trillion, Growth Rate: -0.52%
    Imports (2008): US $885 billion, Growth Rate : -1.62%

    More Facts

  • Population Statistics
    The Middle East has a total estimated population of around 1.231 billion people.
    There are a total of 20 countries located in Middle East
  • Trade and Commerce Statistics
    Exports remained in the positive territory for the seventh successive month, but the 35 per cent growth in shipments in May was lower than that in the same month last year.
    Exports in May were worth $16.1 billion against $12 billion in May 2009. Following the global financial crisis, exports had fallen for 13 consecutive months, before turning positive in November 2009.

    More Facts

  • Top 10 in Middle East
    Biggest Cities:
    1. Karachi, Pakistan - 11,774,000
    2. Dhaka, Bangladesh - 10,979,000
    3. Istanbul, Turkey - 9,413,000
    4. Tehrãn, Iran - 7,380,000
    5. Lahore, Pakistan - 6,030,000
    6. Baghdãd, Iraq - 4,796,000…

    More Facts

  • Mobile Facts in Middle East
    MoneyGram International (NYSE:MGI), a leading global money transfer company, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), a leading bank in the UAE, today announced a strategic agreement that will make international money transfer services via mobile phones available for the first time to the bank's customers all over the UAE.
    MEF opens Middle East hub

    More Facts

  • Internet in Middle East
    UAE Internet Users Concerned About Internet Privacy
    New research from Real Opinions shows that 60% of UAE Internet users favour behavioural targeting for customised advertising and Internet content, whilst 76% said their searches for products and visits to websites should never be monitored unless they have given express permission to do so beforehand.

    More Facts

Basic Economic Statistics:
  • GDP at current prices (2008): $2.303 trillion
  • GDP growth rate (2008): 3.51%
  • Exports (2008): US $1.194 trillion, Growth Rate: -0.52%
  • Imports (2008): US $885 billion, Growth Rate : -1.62%
  • Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (2008-2009): $94.663 billion
  • Middle East Market Value (2008-2009): $11.929 trillion
Population Statistics:
  • Africa has a total population of around 999 million people.
  • There are a total of 53 countries in Africa.
  • The largest population in SSA is 131.5 million (Nigeria); the smallest is Seychelles (0.1 million).
  • More than 35% of Africans live in sustained-growth economies that have grown at more than 4% a year for ten years.
  • Thirty three percent of children who start first grade reaches grade five in Chad; in Mauritius 97% reach fifth grade. (MDG 2).
  • South Africa has the most advanced economy on the African continent. Since1994, particularly, the country's economy has grown rapidly. Its geographical position provides an ideal gateway to Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • In 2008 there were a total of 1445 listed domestic companies in Africa.
Trade and Commerce Statistics:
  • Exports remained in the positive territory for the seventh successive month, but the 35 per cent growth in shipments in May was lower than that in the same month last year.
  • Exports in May were worth $16.1 billion against $12 billion in May 2009. Following the global financial crisis, exports had fallen for 13 consecutive months, before turning positive in November 2009.
  • The other worrying factor is that the rupee has appreciated by over 14 per cent against the Euro since January 2010. This in turn is squeezing the margins of several exporters. Exporters are also likely to diversify more into other markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
  • The major sectors that have shown positive growth in the last two months put together over the same period last year were iron ore (100 per cent growth), petroleum products (70 per cent), leather (33 per cent), engineering (29.6 per cent), gems and jewellery (37.8 per cent), pharmaceuticals (22 per cent), basic chemicals (38 per cent), man-made fibre (27 per cent), cotton yarn and cotton made up products (16 per cent).
  • Meanwhile, imports increased by 30.8 per cent in May to $27.4 billion (from $19.8 billion in May 2009), resulting in a trade deficit of $11.3 billion.
  • The sectors that recorded major growth in imports (cumulative growth in this fiscal over the same period in the last financial year) were electrical machinery (15 per cent), transport equipment (14.7 per cent), machine tools (15 per cent), non-ferrous metals as well as iron and steel (over 100 per cent), precious stones (over 70 per cent), chemicals (56.6 per cent) and petroleum products (over 70 per cent). The growth in capital goods imports has led to a growth in manufacturing sector.
Top 10 in Middle East:
  • Biggest Cities:
  1. Karachi, Pakistan - 11,774,000
  2. Dhaka, Bangladesh - 10,979,000
  3. Istanbul, Turkey - 9,413,000
  4. Tehrãn, Iran - 7,380,000
  5. Lahore, Pakistan - 6,030,000
  6. Baghdãd, Iraq - 4,796,000
  7. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - 3,328,000
  8. Dusseldorf, Germany - 3,251,000
  9. Ankara, Turkey - 3,190,000
  • Business Schools:
  1. Bar-Ilan University - Israel
  2. United Arab Emirates University - United Arab Emirates
  3. Koç University Graduate School of Business - Turkey
  4. Cyprus Internation Institute of Managment - Cyprus
  5. CBL International Dubai Business School - United Arab Emirates
  6. College of Business Administration - Saudi Arabia
  7. University of Guilan - Iran
  8. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals - Saudi Arabia
  9. Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration - Israel
  10. Institute of Business Administration - Pakistan
  • Biggest Companies:
  1. Saudi Basic Inds, Saudi Arabia - chemicals
  2. Türkiye is Bankasi, Turkey - banking
  3. Akbank, Turkey - banking
  4. Saudi Telecom, Saudi Arabia - telecom services
  5. Türkiye Garanti Bankasi, Turkey - banking
  6. Teva Pharmaceutical Inds, Israel - drugs and biotechnology
  7. Al Raijhi Bank, Saudi Arabia - banking
  8. Koç Group, Turkey - conglomerate
  9. Sabanci Group, Turkey - conglomerate
  10. Bank Hapoalim, Israel - banking
Mobile Facts in Middle East:
  • MoneyGram International (NYSE:MGI), a leading global money transfer company, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), a leading bank in the UAE, today announced a strategic agreement that will make international money transfer services via mobile phones available for the first time to the bank's customers all over the UAE.
  • MEF opens Middle East hub
  • Qatar-based office established with lots of help from the Qtel Group
  • MEF and Qtel expect the office to play a major role in developing new mobile apps, solutions in health and education services, and will be a main driver for the emerging content ecosystem in the MENA region. It will also be responsible for liaising with regional members and localising strategic MEF initiatives.
  • Operations will be based in the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP). The office opening was underpinned by an agreement between Qtel and fellow MEF member QU Wireless Innovations Centre (QUWIC) to foster mobile content innovation in the region.
  • Saudi Arabia has 21 million mobile users generating annual profits of SR13bn ($3.48bn). Out of that, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), which has long enjoyed a monopoly of the Saudi telecom market, holds a 90 per cent share of the market. The second operator, Mobily, has a 10 per cent share of the market, having grabbed a third of Saudi mobile users in its first year of operation.
  • However, it network problems are not limited to Saudi Arabia. All over the region people are still saddled with slow broadband access speeds and relatively high tariffs compared with other regions in the world.
  • The combination of a strong economy and low mobile penetration means there is still plenty of room for mobile expansion in the kingdom. The industry itself expects the Saudi market to be one of the fastest growing in the world, with penetration reaching 100 per cent by 2010.
  • The liberalisation of the Middle East market has led to a proliferation of operators in the region. Overall, there are more than 30 mobile operators in the Arab market, with many countries such as Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia having three or more operators offering mobile services, according to a recent survey by the Arab Advisors Group.
  • Middle East to hit the 200 million mobile subscribers milestone this summer
  • The Middle East region made up of 14 countries has sustained its mobile market growth in the quarter to March 2010 with a 4% sequential uptake to reach over 192 million subscribers according to recent data released by Dataxis Intelligence.
  • In fact, as features it well the figure below the number of mobile subscribers in the region grew more than a half in the last two years up from 120 million in the first quarter of 2008 which represents in absolute terms about 72 million new customers during the referred period. On average, the market grew 7.5% and saw 9 million new customers subscribing to mobile services each quarter.
  • All this dynamism has helped to propel the mobile penetration at 87% of the population up from 57% two years earlier which places the region at nearly the same level as North America.
  • ShP partners with Emax to bring mobile recycling in Middle East
  • A new mobile recycling firm, ShP will partner with Middle Eastern retailer Emax in a multi-million pound agreement that will see Emax offer mobile phone recycling for the first time in the area.
Internet Connection in Middle East:
  • UAE Internet Users Concerned About Internet Privacy
  • New research from Real Opinions shows that 60% of UAE Internet users favour behavioural targeting for customised advertising and Internet content, whilst 76% said their searches for products and visits to websites should never be monitored unless they have given express permission to do so beforehand.
  • The Here & Now survey also found that there are some Internet users that do not accept any trade off between privacy levels and behavioural targeting. When asked about the different options for websites to secure permission for monitoring, 38% of respondents believed that no tracking or monitoring of their online behaviour should be permitted under any circumstances. However, almost 6 in 10 (59% globally and also in the UAE) most preferred the method suggested of a setting in Internet browsers which allows Internet users to set global default levels of privacy rather than on a per website basis. Of note, this was most preferred option by almost 3 in 4 respondents (74%) in India and 67% in China.
  • Internet Censorship Brings Down Facebook, Twitter in Middle East
  • New rounds of censorship in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey
  • The Afghan Ministry of Communications mandated last Thursday that all of Afghanistan's Internet Service Providers (ISPs) filter websites which include alcohol, social networking, gambling, and others.
  • According to the Electronic Frontier Federation (EFF), there are "countrywide blockages of Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, and Twitter." The EFF adds that questions are being referred to the Ministry of Communications by one of Afghanistan's two largest telecommunication companies, the Afghan Wireless Communication Company.
  • Pakistan announced last week that it will block links to content on Yahoo, Google, MSN, YouTube, Bing, and Amazon, with plans to completely bock 17 other sites deemed anti-Islamic, according to the EFF.
  • In Turkey, YouTube is now completely blocked.
  • "Thousands of other sites, including proxy servers that Turkish citizens were using to circumvent the bans," have been blocked, said the EFF, adding that Turkey has banned more websites than any other European country.


INTERNET MARKETING
 MOBILE MARKETING
DIRECT MARKETING

About 74 percent of all internet users in the UAE use Facebook, while the rate in Saudi Arabia, the most populated country in the Gulf is around 60 percent, according to the survey.

(March 2013) 1

Of Saudi Arabia's total internet users, about 51 percent are active on Twitter, followed by Turkey in second place with 39 percent and by the UAE in third place at 34 percent.

(March 2013) 2

There will be 266.3 Million mobile lines by the first quarter of 2012.

(August 2012) 3

Today, 40 percent of Interbrand 100 companies are using Instagram effectively, engaging and growing their audiences.

(August 2012) 4

According to a new study carried out by Google Insights, 87 percent of smartphone users in Saudi Arabia notice mobile adverts.

(March 2013) 1

Egypt has shown a fast disposition toward mobile phone usage—the International Telecommunication Union estimates that there were 83.4 million mobile phone connections in 2011 among a total population of about 82.1 million.

(September 2012) 2

But smartphones have made slower progress in penetrating the population. A January–March 2012 survey of individuals in Egypt commissioned by Google as part of their “Our Mobile Planet” study, conducted by third-party research firms, found the smartphone adoption rate to be only about 26%.

(September 2012) 3

But those who do have smartphones and other internet-enabled mobile devices have taken quickly to using both the mobile internet and apps, according to an April poll in Egypt conducted by mobile advertising network Plus7. The survey found that more than six in 10 respondents accessed a mobile website or used an app several times a day, while about one in 10 did so at least once a week.

(September 2012) 4

Among 355 people surveyed in Saudi Arabia, offline newspaper readership still surpassed online sources, 48 percent to 44 percent.

(February 2011) 1

Spending on direct marketing, which uses consumer data lists, continues to grow at a healthy 5 percent clip, accounting for more than $163 billion last year, or half of the total advertising spending in the U.S. Digital channels are a big part of that growth, making up nearly 20 percent of the total.

(October 2012) 2

The global Social TV market revenue is expected to grow from $151.14 billion in 2012 to $256.44 billion by 2017, at an estimated CAGR of 11.2% from 2012 to 2017.

(October 2012) 3

Indeed, according to Forrester Research, by 2012, B2B spending on search, web advertising, email and mobile is expected to reach $5.7 billion.

(October 2012) 4

MARKETING OPERATIONS
 MARKETING SPEND
GLOBAL MARKET RESOURCES

Just 11% of B2B lead generation marketers describe their marketing as highly effective and efficient.

(September 2012) 1

Of companies using marketing automation and ROI metrics, 69 percent reported an increase in total marketing revenue contribution.

(September 2012) 2

China will become the third-largest ad market behind the U.S. and Japan in 2012, displacing Germany.

(December 2010) 3
More than 75% of companies surveyed by Gartner said they would cut 20% or more of their marketing budget. (September 2009) 4

According to the AMO report, digital is in fact the fastest growing platform in the region and accounted for 4% of the total advertising spend in 2011.

(July 2012) 1

Digital advertising is expected to grow 35% from 2011 to 2015, generating around $580m by 2015 across the region. This will account for an estimated 10% of the total advertising spend by 2015.

(July 2012) 2

Overall, global ad spend in Q1 2012 was $128 billion USD.

(June 2012) 3

Mobile apps now account for more than 5% of overall marketing budgets.

(June 2012) 4
BBC Country Profiles
Economist Country Briefings
Euromonitor World and Country Factfiles
Country Profiles from World Trade Press
Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence
CIA World Factbook
Voyage Country profiles
Library of Congress Country Profiles
CountryReports.org
Kwintessential Country Profiles
Infoplease Country Profiles
Geohive Global Statistics
NationMaster.com

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donovan@cmocouncil.org

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