Countries With the Highest Middle Eastern Ancestry

Every country with a figure for middle eastern ancestry, ranked from highest to lowest. The top three are United Arab Emirates (100%), Bahrain (100%) and Algeria (100%). The middle country of the 164 has 0%.

What this measures

Middle Eastern and North African ancestry (share of the population), in % of population. Source: Louis Putterman and David N. Weil, Brown University. For this measure, no agreed better direction.

The estimated share of today's population whose ancestors in the year 1500 lived in the Middle East or North Africa. This is the closest thing to race shares that can be compared across countries: national censuses each use their own race and ethnic categories, and most countries record none. It is about where people's ancestors lived, not how anyone identifies, and it is one estimate for around the year 2000, built from history, migration records and genetic studies. Every country's six ancestry shares add up to 100%, so they are linked to each other by arithmetic. No "better" direction is set.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2000–2000. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on middle eastern ancestry

• Countries With the Lowest Middle Eastern Ancestry
• Middle Eastern ancestry by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

• Countries With the Highest European Ancestry
• Countries With the Highest African Ancestry
• Countries With the Highest Indigenous American Ancestry
• Countries With the Highest East Asian Ancestry
• Countries With the Highest South Asian Ancestry
• Countries With the Highest Ethnic Diversity
• Countries With the Highest Median Ages
• Countries With the Highest Age at Childbearing

A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.