A region encompassing approximately 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The MENA region accounts for approximately 6% of the world’s population, 60% of the world’s oil reserves and 45% of the world’s natural gas reserves. Due to the region’s substantial petroleum and natural gas reserves, MENA is an important source of global economic stability. |||Many of the 12 OPEC nations are within the MENA region. While there is no standardized list of which countries are included in the MENA region, the term typically includes the area from Morocco in northwest Africa to Iran in southwest Asia and down to Sudan in Africa. The following countries are typically included in MENA: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. Ethiopia and Sudan are sometimes included.