WG.10 c - Economic Characteristics of North Africa and Southwest Asia

The student will analyze the characteristics of the North African and Southwest Asian regions by 

c) explaining important economic characteristics; 

Most of the economies in North Africa and Southwest Asia are dominated by the petroleum industry.

Economic characteristics 

• Heavy reliance on primary economic activity (oil drilling, agriculture, pastoralism) 
• Major producer of the world’s oil 
• Oil revenues: Positive and negative effects 
• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 
• Water: The region’s most precious resource 
• Great variation in standard of living, ranging from very high to poverty-stricken 
• Regional conflicts; political unrest that affects tourism 
• Aswan High Dam: Positive and negative effects 
• Suez Canal: Enhanced shipping routes in the region 
• Guest workers 
• Wide range of per capita incomes and levels of development 
• Contemporary trade routes (sea lanes)
  
• Trade important to region from earliest time