What were those Facebook stats again?
How many Facebook subscribers are there in ‘the region’? It all depends on your point of view.
Those that are confused by the different social media statistics being shared on ‘the region’ can be excused. It is confusing.
Here are some alternative figures on Middle East and North Africa and Arab world Facebook users.
1. The Middle East (I) – the ‘Arab Middle East’ including the GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia), Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt.
Total Facebook users: 28.4 millon million
2. The Middle East II – all of the above plus Israel.
Total Facebook users: 31.9 million
3. The Middle East (III) – all of the above plus Pakistan.
Total Facebook users: 38.3 million
4. The Middle East (IV) – all of the above plus Turkey.
Total Facebook users: 68.9 million
5. GCC – The Gulf Cooperation Council states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates).
Total Facebook users: 10.9 million
6. The Arab world – most often the Arab league’s 22 member states (Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, State of Palestine, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen). Note: Facebook is not officially available in Syria or Sudan.
Total Facebook users: 39.8 million
7. The Arab world, plus Israel – the Arab league’s member states, plus Israel.
Total Facebook users: 43.3 million
8. The Middle East & North Africa (I) – the Arab states of MENA (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine (Gaza & West Bank), Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen – often includes Mauritania also).
Total Facebook users: 39.6 million (39.7 to include Mauritania)
9. The Middle East & North Africa (II) – the Arab states of MENA, plus Israel.
Total Facebook users: 43.1 million
10. The Middle East & North Africa (III) – all of the above plus Pakistan.
Total Facebook users: 49.5 million
11. The Middle East & North Africa (IV) – all of the above plus Turkey.
Total Facebook users: 80.2 million
12. The Maghreb – This has always included Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, often Libya, and these days often Mauritania too and can include Western Sahara, depending on your politics, although Mauritania has less than 100,000 users and no statistics are available for Western Sahara. 82% of Facebook subscribers in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia (8.8 million) use Facebook in French.
Total Facebook users: 10.7 million (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia)
Total Facebook users: 11.3 million (including Libya and Mauritania)
*All figures calculated from Facebook advertiser statistics, May 2012
Want to read more?
If you liked reading this post , you might be interested in our past blog posts on Facebook demographics and usage in the Middle East and North Africa:
Facebook Arabic triumphs after Arab Spring (May 2012)
Facebook Arabic Rising (June 2011)
Egypt Facebook demographics (January 2011)
Ten Middle East digital predictions for 2011 (January 2011)
Facebook adds 1 million more Arabic users (August 2010)
Facebook bigger than newspapers? So what? (May 2010)
15 Million MENA Facebook Users – Report (May 2010)
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Tags: Arab World, Carrington Malin, Facebook, Facebook Arabic, Facebook French, GCC, media, MENA, Middle east, North Africa, research, social media, statistics
