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TheArab world consists of the 22members of theArab League. As of 2023, the combined population of all the Arab states was around 473 million people.[1]
The most populous Arab state isEgypt, theNorth African nation with a population of 109 million residents.Comoros, theIndian Ocean nation is the least populated, with around 821,625 inhabitants. The largest city in the Arab World isCairo, Egypt.[2]
The population of the Arab world as estimated in 2023 was about 473 million inhabitants,[3] but no exact figures of the annual population growth, fertility rate, or mortality rate are known to exist.
Over 59 percent of the Arab population is concentrated in urban areas[4] and the number is expected to reach 68 percent by 2050.[5]
The overwhelming majority of the Arab citizens areMuslims,[6] withChristians being the largest minority group.[7] The Arab countries host several holy cities and other religiously significant locations, includingAlexandria,Mecca,Medina,Kirkuk,Arbil, andBaghdad.Sunni Muslims constitute vast majority of the Arab world's residents. However,Shi'a make up the slight majority in areas ofIraq,[8] andBahrain.[9]
Christianity is the second largest religion, with over 20 million Christians in “total” living in countries such asLebanon,Egypt,Iraq,Bahrain,Syria,Kuwait andJordan. There are smallerJewish populations living mainly in the western part of the Arab world. Places such as:Algeria,Bahrain,Egypt,Morocco,Iraq,Tunisia,Syria, andYemen all have Jewish populations. However, most Arab Jews emigrated from the Arab states toIsrael after its founding in 1948:[10] Other minor religions such asDruze religion, theBaháʼí Faith,Mandeanism,Yazdanism,Zoroastrianism,Shabak religion andYarsan are practiced on a much smaller scale.[11][12]
| Country | Muslims | Christians | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
 Arab League | 96% | 3% | 1% |
 Algeria | 97.9% | <1% | 2% |
 Bahrain | 70.3% | 14.5% | 15.2% |
 Comoros | 98.3% | <1% | <1% |
 Djibouti | 96.9% | 2.3% | <1% |
 Egypt | 94.9% | 5.1% | 0% |
 Iraq | 99% | <1% | <1% |
 Jordan | 97.2% | 2.2% | <1% |
 Kuwait | 74.1% | 14.3% | 11.6% |
 Lebanon | 61.3% | 38% | <1% |
 Libya | 96.6% | 2.7% | <1% |
 Mauritania | 99.1% | <1% | <1% |
 Morocco | 99.9% | 0% | 0% |
 Oman | 85.9% | 6.5% | 7.6% |
 Qatar | 67.7% | 13.8% | 17.5% |
 Palestine | 97.6% | 2.4% | 0% |
 Saudi Arabia | 93% | 4.4% | 2.6% |
 Somalia | 99.8% | <1% | <1% |
 Sudan | 90.7% | 5.4% | 3.9% |
 Syria | 92.8% | 5.2% | 2% |
 Tunisia | 99.5% | <1% | <1% |
 United Arab Emirates | 76.9% | 12.6% | 11.5% |
 Yemen | 99.1% | <1% | <1% |
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In general,Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the official language in the Arab world, but additional languages are often used in the daily lives of some citizens. Arabs, however, don't natively speak MSA but their nativevarieties of Arabic, which are grouped based on shared features intoPeninsular,Mesopotamian,Levantine,Egyptian, andMaghrebi. Currently, three major non-Arabic languages are widely used:Kurdish (in northern Iraq and parts of Syria),Berber (inNorth Africa), andSomali (in theHorn of Africa).
There are several minority languages that are still spoken today, such asAfar,Armenian,Hebrew,Nubian,Persian,Aramaic, andTurkish. Twenty percent of the Arab population natively speak a non-Arabic language, most commonly,Somali,Berber andKurdish languages.
Many Arab countries in the Persian Gulf have sizable non-Arab populations. Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman have aPersian speaking minority. The same countries also have Hindi-Urdu speakers and Filipinos as sizable minority. Balochi speakers are a good size minority in Oman. Additionally, countries like Bahrain, UAE, Oman and Kuwait have significant non-Arab and non-Muslim minorities (10–20%) like Hindus and Christians from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines.[citation needed]
Many non-Arab countries bordering the Arab states have large Arab populations, such as inChad,Mali,Niger,Senegal andTurkey.[citation needed]
The table below shows the distribution of populations in theArab world and Palestine, as well as the official language(s) within the various Arab states.
| Arab state | Population | % Arabs | Official language(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | 44,903,225[14] | 85%[15] | Arabic official language withBerber | |
| Bahrain | 1,733,100[16] | 51%[17] | Arabic official language | |
| Comoros | 780,971[18] | 0.5%[19] | Arabic co-official language withComorian andFrench | |
| Djibouti | 810,179[20] | 5%[21] | Arabic co-official language withFrench | |
| Egypt | 102,069,001[22] | 90%[23] | Arabic official language | [24] |
| Iraq | 46,081,677[25] | 75–80%[26] | Arabic official language withKurdish | |
| Jordan | 10,255,045[16] | 98%[27] | Arabic official language | |
| Kuwait | 4,268,873[28] | 59.2%[29] | Arabic official language | |
| Lebanon | 6,810,123[16] | 95%[30] | Arabic official language | |
| Libya | 6,244,174[31] | 97%[32] | Arabic official language | |
| Mauritania | 3,516,806[33] | 80%[34] | Arabic official language[a] | |
| Morocco | 37,457,971[35] | 75%[36] | Arabic co-official language withBerber | |
| Oman | 5,174,814[16] | 81% | Arabic official language | |
| Palestine | 5,163,462[16] | 90%[37][38] | Arabic official language | West Bank: 2,731,052 (83% Palestinian Arabs)[37]Gaza Strip: 1,816,379 (100% Palestinian Arabs)[38] |
| Qatar | 2,906,257[16] | 40%[39] | Arabic official language | |
| Saudi Arabia | 36,408,820[40] | 97%[41] | Arabic official language | |
| Somalia | 17,597,511[42] | 0.10%[43] | Arabic co-official language withSomali | It is estimated that there are about 30,000 Arabs in Somalia. |
| Sudan | 46,874,204[44] | 70%[45] | Arabic co-official language withEnglish | |
| Syria | 17,723,461[16] | 90%[45] | Arabic official language | |
| Tunisia | 12,356,117[46] | 98%[47] | Arabic official language | |
| United Arab Emirates | 10,102,678[48] | 40%[49] | Arabic official language | |
| Yemen | 30,168,998[16] | 98%[50] | Arabic official language |
TheArab world has between 400,000 and 500,000Armenians inhabiting its geographical area.Armenians are largely concentrated in countries such asLebanon (150,000 to 250,000) andSyria (100,000 to 150,000) as well asPalestine, and to a lesser degreeEgypt andIraq, but Armenians can also be found in countries likeQatar and theUAE. These Armenians are economic migrants fromLebanon andSyria.
Prior to World War I, there were some 2,000–3,000 Armenians in Palestine, mostly in Jerusalem. From 1915 and onward, thousands ofArmenian genocide survivors fromCilicia (Adana Vilayet) found refuge, and settled in Palestine, increasing its Armenian population.[51][52] In 1925, around 15,000 Armenians are believed to have lived in all of Palestine, with the majority in Jerusalem.[51] DuringMandatory Palestine period, the number of Armenians is estimated to have reached up to 20,000.[51][53] However, the 1931 British census showed only 3,524 Armenians in all of Palestine.[51]
A large number of Armenian monks are recorded to have settled in Jerusalem as early as the 4th century,[54][55] after the uncovering of Christian holy places in the city.[51] However, the first written records are from the 5th century.[56] Jerusalem is thus considered the oldest livingdiaspora community outside theArmenian homeland.[57] Nowadays, there are estimated 7500 living in the region ofHistorical Palestine.[58]
MostArmenians are Christians mainly following the OrthodoxArmenian Apostolic Church. The church has one of its two headquarters inAntelias,Lebanon, calledThe Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia (the other being in Armenia calledMother See of Holy Etchmiadzin). There are also Armenian Catholics. The world headquarters of theArmenian Catholic Church is also located in Beirut, Lebanon (and historically inBzoummar, Lebanon). There are also a minority Armenian Evangelical Protestants. The Middle East headquarters of theArmenian Evangelical Church is in Beirut calledUnion of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East.[citation needed]
Assyrians (also known as Chaldo-Assyrians) can be found inIraq, north easternSyria, and to a lesser degree north westernIran and south easternTurkey. They are an ancientSemitic people who retainAramaic as a spoken language. They are exclusivelyChristian and are descendants of the ancient pre ArabAssyrians/Mesopotamians. Almost all Christians in Iraq are ethnic Assyrians, where they number approximately 400,000. 500,000 are in Syria but are harder to identify, because they are often included in with the generalChristian population and speak Arabic, however the Christians of theTur Abdin andAl Hasakah regions in the north east are predominantly Assyrian.[citation needed]
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Berbers are an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa. They are distributed in an area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River. Historically, they spoke Berber languages, which together form the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Since the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the seventh century, a large number of Berbers inhabiting the Maghreb have acquired different degrees of knowledge of varieties of Maghrebi Arabic.[59]
Circassians are a people who originate in theNorth Caucasus. They are predominantly Muslim, and can be found in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt in relatively small numbers.[60][61]
EgyptianCoptic Christians are a religious group who do not usually identify themselves as Arabic and they follow the Coptic Orthodox Church. They place heavy emphasis on the Egyptian aspect of their identity and theirChristian heritage. Their numbers are heavily disputed but are estimated to compromise roughly 5.35% of the Egyptian population. They are mainly followers of theCoptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, there are however a minority among them who are members of theCoptic Catholic Church, and an even smaller group who belong to theCoptic Evangelical Church. TheEgyptian Coptic language, which is a late script that was developed inRoman Egypt, written in theGreek alphabet and descending from the late form of theEgyptian language ofancient Egypt, continues to be used as the liturgical language of theCoptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.[62]
TheJewish tribes of Arabia were Arabian tribes professing theJewish faith that inhabited theArabian Peninsula before and during the advent ofIslam. It is not always clear whether they were originallyIsraelite in ancestry, genealogically Arab tribes that converted to Judaism, or a mixture of both. In Islamic tradition the Jewish tribes of theHejaz were seen as the offspring of the ancientIsraelites.[63]: 4–5 According to Muslim sources, they spoke a language other than Arabic, whichAl-Tabari claims was Persian. This implies they were connected to the major Jewish center in Babylon.[63]: 5 Certain Jewish traditions records the existence of nomadic tribes such as theRechabites that converted to Judaism in antiquity. The tribes collapsed with the rise of Islam, with many either converting or fleeing the Arab peninsula. Some of those tribes are thought to have merged intoYemenite Jewish community, while others, like the residents ofYatta consider themselves Islamized descendants ofKhaybar, a Jewish tribe of Arabia.[64]
Jews from Arab countries – included in theMizrahi Jewish communities– are not categorized as, and do not consider themselves to be, Arabs, as Jews are a separate nation from Arabs, with different history and culture.[65] However, sometimes the termArab Jews is used to describe Jews from Arab countries, though the term is highly controversial. Sociologist Sammy Smooha stated "This ("Arab Jews") term does not hold water. It is absolutely not a parallel to 'Arab Christian'".[66] Those who dispute thehistoricity of the term make the claim that Middle Eastern Jews are similar toAssyrians,Berbers, and other Middle Eastern groups who live in Arab societies as distinct minority groups with distinct identity and therefore are not categorized as Arabs.[citation needed]
In the northern regions ofIraq (15-20%) andSyria (10%) live a group called theKurds, anIndo-European, indigenous ethnic group who speakKurdish, a language closely related toPersian and usingPersian alphabet, except inTurkey where Kurdish is written using aLatin alphabet orthography. The majority of Kurds areSunni Muslim, others areAlevi Muslim, withChristian andYarsan minorities. The nationalist aspiration for self-rule or for a state ofKurdistan has created conflict between Kurdish minorities and their governments inIraq,Iran,Syria andTurkey.[67]
Mandaeans, sometimes also calledSabians, are a people found mainly in southern Iraq. Their numbers total no more than 70,000. They followMandaeism, agnostic religion.[68]
Mhallami are a tiny minority of unknown origins who have converted to Islam.[69]
Nubians, found in NorthernSudan and SouthernEgypt, are a differentethnicity from their northern and southern neighbors in Egypt and Sudan, numbering 1.7 million in Sudan and Egypt. TheNubian people in Sudan inhabit the region betweenWadi Halfa in the north andAl Dabbah in the south. The main Nubian groups from north to south are the Halfaweyen, Sikut (Sickkout),Mahas, and Danagla. They speak different dialects of theNubian language.[citation needed]
Ancient Nubians were famous for their vast wealth, their trade betweenCentral Africa and the lowerNile valley civilizations, including Egypt, their skill and precision with the bow, their23-letter alphabet, the use of deadly poison on the heads of their arrows, their great military, their advanced civilization, and theircentury-long rule over the united upper and lower Egyptian kingdoms.[citation needed]
Roma are to be found in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa; their numbers are unknown. They speak their own language and may loosely follow the predominant religion of the country they live in.[70]
Shabaks are mainly found in Iraq, they are either Muslim or follow native religions. They are also related to Kurds, but like the Yazidi, emphasise their separate identity.[71]
Somali and Arabic are the two official languages inSomalia, both of which belong to theAfro-Asiatic family. Article 3 of theconstitution outlines the country's founding principles, establishing it as a Muslim state, and a member of the Arab and African nations.[72] About 85% of local residents areethnic Somalis,[73] who have historically inhabited the northern part of the country.[74] Many self-identify as Somali instead of Arab despite centuries-old ties to Arabia.[75] There are also a number ofBravanese,Bantus,Bajunis,Ethiopians,Indians,Pakistanis,Persians,Britons andItalians.[74][76]
Djibouti, whose demographics are approximately 60% Somali and 35%Afar, is in a similar position. Arabic is one of the official languages, 94% of the nation's population is Muslim, and its location on theRed Sea places it in close proximity to the Arabian Peninsula. Somali andAfar are also recognized national languages.[77]
The Arab world is home to sizeable populations of Turks throughoutNorth Africa, theLevant, and theArabian Peninsula.[citation needed]
There is a notable Turkish minority inEgypt; prior to theEgyptian revolution in 1919, the ruling and upper classes were mainly Turkish, or of Turkish descent (seeTurks in Egypt), which was part of the heritage from the Ottoman rule of Egypt.[78]
In theLevant the Turks are scattered throughout the region. In Iraq and Syria the Turkish minorities are commonly referred to as "Turkmen", "Turkman" and "Turcoman"; these terms have historically been used to designate Turkish speakers in Arab areas, or Sunni Muslims in Shiite areas.[79] The majority ofIraqi Turkmen andSyrian Turkmen are the descendants of Ottoman Turkish settlers.[80][81][82][83] and share close cultural and linguistic ties withTurkey, particularly theAnatolian region.[84][83] In 2013 the Iraqi Ministry of Planning estimated that Iraqi Turkmen numbered 3 million out of the country's 34.7 million inhabitants (approximately 9% of the total population).[85] Estimates of the Syrian Turkmen population range from several hundred thousand to 3.5 million.[86] There is also Turkish minorities located inJordan (Turks in Jordan) andLebanon (Turks in Lebanon). In Lebanon, they live mainly in the villages ofAydamun andKouachra in theAkkar District, as well as inBaalbek,Beirut, andTripoli. TheLebanese Turks number approximately 80,000.[87] However, there has also been a recent influx ofSyrian Turkmen refugees (125,000 to 150,000 in 2015) who now outnumber the long establish Ottoman descended Turkish minority.[88]
In theArabian Peninsula, there are Turkish minorities who have lived in the region since the Ottoman era. The Turks live predominately inSaudi Arabia (seeTurks in Saudi Arabia) andYemen (seeTurks in Yemen).[citation needed]
TheYazidi are a religious Kurdish community who represent an ancient religion that is linked to Zoroastrianism. They number 600,000 in Iraq[89] and between 10,000 and 50,000 in Syria.[90]
North Africans are the inhabitants of theNorth Africa (Morocco,Algeria,Tunisia,Libya andEgypt). Maghrebis mostly speakMaghrebi Arabic, which is descended fromClassical Arabic and has a markedBerbersubstratum, while Egyptians speakEgyptian Arabic which is mainly based on Coptic grammar rather than Classical Arabic.[91]
In 647 AD (the year 27 of the Hijrah), the firstMuslim expedition toAfrica took place. By 700 AD, the area had been conquered and converted to theIslamic faith. We know little of the early Islamic town, but by the tenth century the area outside of the fortress was once more filled with houses: on the site of the Roman baths over twelve of these were excavated, with large courtyards surrounded by long, thin, rooms.[92]
After ruling overCairo, theFatimids left the rule inTunisia and parts of easternAlgeria to theZirids (972–1148).[93] The invasion of Tunisia which was known asIfriqiya, was done by theBanu Hilal, anArab tribe encouraged by theFatimids to seizeNorth Africa.[94]
Listed here are thehuman Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in main regions of theArab world (Maghreb,Mashriq andArabian peninsula).[95]
| Haplogroup | n | A | B | C | DE | E1a | E1b1a | E1b1b1 | E1b1b1a | E1b1b1a1 | E1b1b1a1b | E1b1b1a2 | E1b1b1a3 | E1b1b1a4 | E1b1b1b | E1b1b1c |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marker | M33 | M2 | M35 | M78 | V12 | V32 | V13 | V22 | V65 | M81 | M34 | |||||
| Maghreb | ||||||||||||||||
| Sahara/Mauritania | 189 | - | 0.53 | - | - | 5.29 | 6.88 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 55.56 | 11.11 |
| Morocco | 760 | 0.26 | 0.66 | - | - | 2.76 | 3.29 | 4.21 | 0.79 | 0.26 | - | 0.26 | 1.84 | 3.68 | 67.37 | 0.66 |
| Algeria | 156 | - | - | - | - | 0.64 | 5.13 | 0.64 | 1.92 | 0.64 | - | 0.64 | 1.28 | 1.92 | 44.23 | 1.28 |
| Tunisia | 601 | - | 0.17 | - | - | 0.5 | 0.67 | 1.66 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 3.16 | 50.73 | 1.16 |
| Libya | 83 | - | - | - | - | - | 38.55 | - | - | - | - | 2.41 | - | 4.82 | 45.78 | - |
| Machrik | ||||||||||||||||
| Egypt | 370 | 1.35 | - | - | - | 0.54 | 2.43 | 3.24 | 0.81 | 7.03 | 1.62 | 0.81 | 9.19 | 2.43 | 11.89 | 6.76 |
| Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq | 2741 | 0.18 | 0.04 | 0.04 | - | 0.33 | 0.62 | 0.44 | - | - | - | 1.24 | 8.72 | - | 0.84 | 5.36 |
| Arabian Peninsula | 618 | 0.16 | 0.81 | 0.97 | 0.81 | 0.32 | 5.66 | 1.94 | 0.49 | - | - | 0.32 | 2.43 | - | 0.16 | 5.66 |
| Haplogroup (continued) | F | G | H | I | J1 | J2 | K | L | N | O | P,R | Q | R1a1 | R1b | R1b1a | R1b1b | R2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marker | M89 | M201 | M69 | M343 | V88 | M269 | M70 | |||||||||||
| Maghreb | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sahara/Mauritania | - | - | - | 13.23 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.88 | 0.53 | - | - | |
| Morocco | 0.26 | 0.66 | - | 0.13 | 6.32 | 1.32 | 0.53 | - | - | - | 0.26 | - | - | - | 0.92 | 3.55 | - | - |
| Algeria | 3.85 | - | - | - | 21.79 | 2.49 | 0.64 | - | - | - | - | 0.64 | 0.64 | - | 2.56 | 7.04 | - | - |
| Tunisia | 2.66 | 0.17 | - | 0.17 | 26.64 | 6.83 | 0.33 | - | - | - | 0.33 | - | 0.5 | - | 1.83 | 0.33 | - | 1.16 |
| Libya | - | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.41 | - | - | - | 6.02 | - | - | - |
| Machrik | ||||||||||||||||||
| Egypt | 1.08 | 5.68 | - | 0.54 | 20.81 | 6.75 | 0.27 | 0.81 | - | 0.27 | 0.54 | 0.27 | 2.16 | - | 2.97 | 2.97 | 0.54 | 6.22 |
| Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq | 0.15 | 5.47 | - | 2.84 | 30.83 | 21.05 | 0.69 | 3.43 | 0.15 | 0.07 | 0.66 | 1.2 | 3.39 | 0.36 | 5.47 | 1.97 | 0.47 | 3.98 |
| Arabian Peninsula | 1.29 | 2.91 | 2.1 | - | 44.01 | 11.32 | 4.37 | 2.27 | - | 0.65 | 0.32 | 1.46 | 6.31 | 0.16 | - | 2.43 | 0.16 | 0.49 |
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| Country | Area (km2) | Population[96][97] (2021) | GDP PPP (in billions $) | TFR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arab League | 13,132,327 | 406,691,829 | 3,335.3 | |
| Algeria | 2,381,740 | 44,177,969 | 284.7 | 2.80 (2020) |
| Bahrain | 760 | 1,463,265 | 34.96 | 1.74 (2019 est) |
| Comoros | 2,235 | 821,625 | 0.911 | 4.3 (2012 est) |
| Djibouti | 23,200 | 1,105,557 | 2.505 | 2.8 (2010 est) |
| Egypt | 1,001,450 | 109,262,178 | 551.4 | 2.63 (2021 est) |
| Iraq | 438,317 | 43,533,592 | 249.4 | 3.6 (2018 est) |
| Jordan | 89,342 | 11,148,278 | 40.02 | 2.6 (2020 est) |
| Kuwait | 17,818 | 4,250,114 | 165.8 | 2.03 (2020 est) |
| Lebanon | 10,452 | 5,592,631 | 51.474 | 1.74 (2014 est) |
| Libya | 1,759,540 | 6,735,277 | 73.6 | 2.20 (2020 est) |
| Mauritania | 1,030,700 | 4,614,974 | 8.204 | 5.20 (2021) |
| Morocco | 710,850 | 37,076,584 | 180 | 1.87 (2020) |
| Oman | 309,500 | 4,520,471 | 94.86 | 2.66 (2020) |
| Qatar | 11,586 | 2,688,235 | 26.37 | 1.67 (2020 est) |
| Saudi Arabia | 2,149,690 | 35,950,396 | 927.8 | 1.92 (2018) |
| Somalia | 637,657 | 17,065,581 | 5.896 | 5.70 (2018 est) |
| Sudan | 1,861,484 | 45,657,202 | 89.97 | 4.49 (2012) |
| Syria | 185,180 | 21,324,367 | 107.6 | 3.0 (2012) |
| Tunisia | 163,610 | 12,262,946 | 108.4 | 1.86 (2020) |
| United Arab Emirates | 83,600 | 9,365,145 | 269.8 | 1.75 (2016 est) |
| Yemen | 527,968 | 32,981,641 | 61.63 | 4.4 (2013) |
...the Middle East-North Africa region has an overwhelmingly Muslim population (93%)...
...Christians live as minorities in the Asia-Pacific region (7%) and the Middle East-North Africa region (4%)...
According to Vatican sources, some 250,000 Armenians are members of the "Armenian Rite" of the Catholic Church (others put the number closer to 150,000) with communities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Jerusalem and the US.
Khaybar's Jews appear in Arab folklore as well. [...] The Muḥamara family of the Arab village of Yutta, near Hebron, trace their descent to the Jews of Khaybar. Families in other nearby villages tell of similar lineages.
This interiorized rejection of things local and Arabic in part derives from the fact that the ruling and upper classes in the years before the revolution were mainly Turkish, or of Turkish descent, part of the heritage from the Ottoman rule in Egypt. If one was not really Western, but belonged to the elite, one was Turkish. Only the masses, the country folk, were quite simply Egyptian in the first place, and possibly Arabs secondarily.
The largest number of Turkmen immigrants followed the army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent when he conquered all of Iraq in 1535. Throughout their reign, the Ottomans encouraged the settlement of immigrant Turkmen along the loosely formed boundary that divided Arab and Kurdish settlements in northern Iraq.
There's a strong conflict of opinions regarding the origins of Iraqi Turkmen, however, it is certain that they settled down during the Ottoman rule in the northwest of Mosul, whence they spread to eastern Baghdad. Once there, they became high ranked officers, experts, traders, and executives in residential agglomerations lined up along the vast, fertile plains, and mingled with Kurds, Assyrians, Arabs, and other confessions. With the creation of the new Iraqi state in 1921, Iraqi Turkmen managed to maintain their socioeconomic status.
Turkomans are descendents of Ottoman Empire-era soldiers, traders and civil servants... The 1957 census, Iraq's last reliable count before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958, put the country's population at 6,300,000 and the Turkoman population at 567,000, about 9 per cent...Subsequent censuses, in 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997, are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation.
In the context of Syria, though, the term ["Turkmen"] is used somewhat differently, to refer mainly to people of Turkish heritage whose families migrated to Syria from Anatolia during the centuries of the Ottoman period — and thus would be closer kin to the Turks of Turkey than to the Turkmens of Central Asia...Q. How many are there? A. No reliable figures are available, and estimates on the number of Turkmens in Syria and nearby countries vary widely, from the hundreds of thousands up to 3 million or more.
The predominantly Muslim Turkmen are an ethnic group with close cultural and linguistic ties to Anatolia in Turkey.
Turkmens are a mix of Sunnis and Shiites and are the third-largest ethnicity in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, numbering around 3 million out of the total population of about 34.7 million, according to 2013 data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.
There are no reliable population figures, but they are estimated to number between about half a million and 3.5 million.
