The area covered in this Population Bulletin includes 20 countries in Western Asia and North Africa. The boundaries are defined by geography rather than religion, ethnicity, or other socioeconomic characteristics. Thus, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) includes the non-Arab countries of Iran, Israel, and Turkey. MENA countries fall into three general sub regions: North Africa, Western Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula. These sub regions do not correspond exactly to the United Nations (UN) regions with the same names. This publication covers areas such as population growth and change, mortality decline, declining fertility, migration, shifting age structure and the potential demographic dividend. Source: Challenges and Opportunities–The Population of the Middle East and North Africa