Mideast

Middle East

Location of the Middle East
Population	371 million (2010)
Countries	17 countries  Bahrain  Cyprus  Egypt  Iran  Iraq  Israel  Jordan  Kuwait  Lebanon  Oman  Palestine  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  Syria  Turkey  United Arab Emirates  Yemen
Languages	~60 languages Official languages Arabic Greek Hebrew Kurdish Persian Turkish Languages without official status (spoken by diaspora or other minorities) Albanian Armenian Abaza Abkhaz Amharic Azerbaijani Balochi Bosniak Chechen Chinese Circassian Crimean Tatar Coptic Domari English French Balkan Gagauz Turkish Georgian Gilaki Hungarian Hindi Italian Kazakh Kumyk Kurbet Kyrgyz Judæo-Spanish Laz Lurish Marathi Malayalam Mazanderani Neo-Aramaic Nobiin Qashqai Romanian Siwa Somali Syriac Spanish Punjabi Tagalog Talysh Tatar Thai Turkmen Turoyo Ukrainian Urdu Uyghur Yiddish Zaza
Time Zones	UTC+2:00, UTC+3:00, UTC+3:30, UTC+4:00, UTC+4:30
Largest Cities	Cairo Istanbul Tehran Baghdad Riyadh

The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into wider usage as a replacement of the term Near East (as opposed to the Far East) beginning in the early 20th century.

Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris (excluding Republic of Azerbaijan) constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, and Zazas. In the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups that form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines, and Italo-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, and Sub-Saharan Africans.