The countries of the Middle East are undergoing a remarkable transformation of their role and significance in the world with sharp increases in per capita incomes, enhanced economic integration and significant changes in their economic systems.
The region's total population has doubled over the past quarter-century and more particularly, there have been huge inflows of immigrants during this period, with the fast-growing economies of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) seeing their populations increase fourfold, fueling their strong growth.
In the past decade, the transformation has gathered speed, with GDP growth outpacing population growth. There have been many important drivers of this transformation. The primary ones are:
