Last update: 2022-04-22 09:42:01
Arab and Middle East Uprising: an outline of events
Morocco
After a day of protest with thousands of demonstrators demanding a new government and a constitutional monarchy, King Mohammed VI has declared he will not give in to demagogy.
Population: 34 million
Unemployment: 10%; under-25: 31.80%
Below poverty line: 15%
GDP per capita: $4.900
King Mohammed VI has been in power since 1999, the year of his father Hasan II’s death.
Tunisia
After the fall of President Ben Ali, in power since 1987, the Country has been going through a difficult post-revolutionary transition.
Population: 10.434.400
Unemployment: 13%
Below poverty line: 3.8%
Per capita income: $ 9.500
Libya
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s militias have responded with violence to the people’s protests in Tripoli. Benghazi is under protesters’ control.
Population: 6.120.585
Unemployment: 14 %
Below poverty line: 7%
GDP per capita: $ 13.800
Gaddafi has been in power since 1969.
Egypt
The last 11 February President Mubarak resigned after 30 years in power, leaving the Country in a state of confusion where at the moment the army are calling the shots.
Population: 80 millions
Unemployment: 8.9 %; under-25: 49.3%
Below poverty line: 20%
GDP per capita $6.200
Yemen
After about 10 day’s protest, during which over 10 people died, President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared not to want to resign but to intend to open negotiations with the protesters.
Population: 20.975.000
Unemployment 10-14 %
Below poverty line: 45%
GDP per capita $ 2.600
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in power since 1978 (North Yemen).
Until 1990 Yemen was divided into North Yemen and South Yemen.
Bahrain
The opposition is trying to take advantage of the Shi’ite protest to force the king to dissolve the government.
Population: 1.234.596
Unemployment: 5-9%
Per capita income: $ 40.000
King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa has been in power since 1999.
Iran
An Islamic Republic since 1979, the year of the Shah’s expulsion. Demonstrations in public squares and clashes with the police are once again shaking Iran, while the Foreign Affairs Minister in Tehran has publicly condemned Libya’s “massacre of the innocents”.
Population: 68.278.826
Unemployment: 14.6%
Below poverty line: 18%
GDP per capita: $ 11.200
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been President of the Republic since 2005; imam Khamenei has been Supreme Leader since 1989, the year of imam Khomeini’s death.
