Abstract

The article dwells on configuring Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries in three political economy dimensions: population, gross national income per capita in current international dollars converted by purchasing power parities (per capita GNI PPP), and human development measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). Furthermore, the relationship between the mentioned dimensions and self-reported life satisfaction as well as the Index of Happiness is analyzed. The author conducts comparative analysis of diversity within a target region, shows where it fits on the world scale, and focuses on drawbacks in the data. The author concludes that the MENA region is a volitile cluster from the standpoint of safety, political rationality, and living standards. Armed clashes, technogenic accidents, the refugee problem in coping with the trend of demographic growth will put extra stress on the national economies of states and create great challenges for the governments.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.