q104/random_k2/random_2.md

Youth in Middle East
and North Africa

August 2019

Daniella Raz
University of Michigan

JULY 2018Arab Barometer – Wave V
Topic Report – Youth

Executive Summary

Individuals between the ages of 15 and 29 account for roughly 30 percent of the
population of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).1 The beliefs, attitudes,
and preferences of this large and growing segment of the population has the po-
tential to shape and drive the region’s future. Yet, widespread youth discontent
about their economic prospects poses a significant challenge. Youth unemploy-
ment rates across the region remain high and there is broad frustration with
government efforts to create employment opportunities.2 Though satisfaction
with the state education system varies greatly across countries, youth are less
satisfied than are older generations.

Youth also question if they have the ability to voice their frustrations to the gov-
ernment. In nearly all countries, less than half say the right to freedom of ex-
pression is guaranteed while half or less say they have the right to demonstrate
peacefully in all countries. This combination creates conditions where youth
across the MENA region, far more than older age cohorts, are considering emi-
grating from their country, primarily to Europe, North America, or GCC countries.
Unsurprisingly, many cite economic reasons as the main impetus for leaving.

However, youth differ from their older counterparts not only in terms of greater
frustration with the existing system. Relative to older generations youth also
tend to be less religious, less interested in politics, and more likely to be engaged
in social media. Generational differences are particularly stark in Morocco where
youth attitudes diverge substantially and dissatisfaction with the overall state of
affairs is quite salient.

Meanwhile, on gender issues, most youth tend to be supportive of equal rights
for women. Majorities say women have the right to be the head of government
and to receive an education. Yet, the same does not hold true for equal inher-
itance rights with minorities saying women should receive the same as men
in most countries. Additionally, this generation cites low levels of support for
women playing equal roles in society, with most saying that men make better
political leaders and stating that husbands should have the final say in family
matters.

Youth in MENA appear to be particularly inclined toward China relative to other
global powers. Majorities favor closer economic relations with China in most
countries surveyed, while less than half say the same about relations with the
U.S. in most countries.

1https://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbas/report/AHDR%20Reports/AHDR%202016/AHDR%20Final%

202016/AHDR2016En.pdf, pg. 7

2https://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2012/061312.htm?id=186569

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Arab Barometer – Wave V
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These are among the key findings from 11 nationally representative public opin-
ion surveys conducted across the Middle East and North Africa by the Arab
Barometer from September 2018 - April 2019. The surveys included more than
25,000 face-to-face interviews in the respondent’s place of residence and have
a margin of error of ±2 percent in most countries.3

Religiosity

Across the region, youth are less religious than their older counterparts. In fact, in
every country surveyed less than half of youth identify as religious. More specif-
ically, fewer than one-fifth of youth in Algeria (15 percent), Tunisia (16 percent),
and Libya (18 percent), and fewer than one-quarter of youth in Jordan (22 per-
cent), Lebanon (23 percent), and Morocco (24 percent) consider themselves reli-
gious. Higher rates of youth religiosity are found in Palestine (28 percent), Sudan
(32 percent), Yemen (33 percent) Egypt (36 percent), and Iraq (42 percent).

However, trends over time paint a more complicated picture throughout the
region. While indeed less than half of MENA youth identify as religious, in some
countries these rates represent an increase from the last Arab Barometer wave

3For details about each survey, please visit:

https://www.arabbarometer.org/waves/

arab-barometer-wave-v/

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while in others a decrease. For instance, rates of religiosity have increased in
Egypt (+12), Yemen (+7), Tunisia (+6), Iraq (+6), Morocco (+2), and Libya (+2). In
contrast, youth identify as religious at lower rates in Sudan (-12), Palestine (-9),
Jordan (-7), Algeria (-3) and Lebanon (-2).

Views on Politics

In addition to generally low levels of religiosity, youth appear disinterested in
politics, both overall and when compared to older generations. Only three-in-
ten youth in Lebanon (31 percent), Yemen (29 percent), Palestine (29 percent),
Sudan (28 percent), and Egypt (27 percent) say they are interested or very inter-
ested in politics, while no more than a quarter say the same in Jordan (25 per-
cent), Morocco (23 percent), Iraq (21 percent), and Libya (21 percent). Tunisian
and Algerian youth are least politically interested with fewer than two-in-ten
citing interest in politics (17 percent and 15 percent, respectively).

With the exception of Egypt and Lebanon, youth in the region are less interested
in politics than are older citizens. The difference between age cohorts is widest
in Tunisia and Palestine (10 percentage points). Elsewhere, though differences
are smaller, older citizens nonetheless report greater interest in politics than do
youth.
In Lebanon youth have only marginally greater interest (1 percentage
point), while in Egypt youth are 6 percentage points more likely than older citi-

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zens to say they are interested or very interested in politics.

Youth disinterest in the political system could be in part due to their outlook
If young people perceive the most
on the fairness of parliamentary elections.
recent parliamentary elections as unfair, regardless of whether they voted or
were even eligible to vote in them, then their disinterest could perhaps reflect
disillusionment with their country’s political process. With the exception of the
Levant, youth are more likely than older age cohorts to evaluate the last par-
liamentary elections held in their respective country as being neither free nor
fair. In some countries surveyed this difference is stark. For instance, in Morocco
four-in-ten youth characterized the last parliamentary elections as such, com-
pared to fewer than a quarter of older Moroccans (23 percent). In Tunisia, youth
were 12 percentage points more likely than older citizens to characterize the
last parliamentary elections as being neither free nor fair (40 percent versus 28
percent).

Internet and Social Media

Across the region, internet use, defined as going online at least once-in-a-few-
weeks, is substantially greater among youth than older generations. In fact, in
most of the surveyed countries (with the exception of Yemen), more than 90
percent of youth use the internet, whereas among the older generation internet
usage does not approach such a rate. The highest rates of internet usage are
found in Lebanon (99 percent), followed by Jordan (96 percent), Palestine (95
percent), Algeria (93 percent), Morocco (93 percent), Tunisia (91 percent), Egypt
(90 percent), Sudan (90 percent), Iraq (89 percent), and Libya (88 percent). The
lowest rate of internet usage among youth is seen in Yemen, where fewer than
eight-in-ten youth say they use the internet at least once every few weeks (77
percent). The most striking generational differences in internet usage are seen in
Yemen and North Africa (excluding Libya), where internet use among youth ex-
ceeds that of older age cohorts by at least 30 percentage points. In contrast, the
intergenerational gap in internet use is less pronounced in the Levant (Lebanon,
Jordan, Palestine), where it does not exceed 20 percentage points.

Interestingly, among internet users, social media usage is very high across all
demographics. In fact, youth are not so different from their older counterparts
in this regard. Though Yemeni youth report the lowest rates of internet usage in
the region, those online are also the most likely to engage in social media. Nearly
all Yemeni youth who are online (99 percent) use social media on a typical day.
However, most online youth across the region also engage in social media on a
typical day: Jordan (98 percent), Lebanon (97 percent), Iraq (97 percent), Pales-
tine (96 percent), Libya (96 percent), Egypt (96 percent), Tunisia (96 percent),
Morocco (96 percent), Sudan (94 percent), and Algeria (94 percent). Overall,
youth are consistently more likely than older generations to say they spend two

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hours or more on social media platforms, although the size of this difference is
often marginal at best. As an example, the widest generational gap is seen in
Morocco, where youth are 10 percentage points more likely to use social me-
dia. However, the difference is much smaller in Yemen (1 percentage point) and
Jordan (2 percentage points), and non-existent in Palestine.

Though there is little generational difference in overall quantity of social media
usage, there exists a much larger generational discrepancy in terms of moti-
vations for using and trust in social media. Youth are more likely than older
generations to use social media as their primary source of information to fol-
low breaking news, and also to trust this information more than that found in
newspapers or TV news programs. With respect to the former, youth are most
likely to say social media is their primary source for breaking news in Palestine
(76 percent), while around two-thirds say the same in Morocco (67 percent) and
Jordan (63 percent). About half of youth or more in Egypt (58 percent), Tunisia
(55 percent), Iraq (51 percent), and Algeria (49 percent) rely primarily on so-
cial media for breaking news, while less than half do so in Libya (45 percent),
Lebanon (43 percent), Yemen (37 percent) and Sudan (32 percent). Notably,
youth reliance on social media to follow breaking news far exceeds that of their
older counterparts in every country surveyed. The greatest discrepancy between
youth and older generations is seen in Morocco (53 percentage points), Egypt
(44 percentage points), Tunisia (36 percentage points), and Palestine (32 per-
centage points). Elsewhere, though less stark, rates of youth reliance on social

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media for breaking news still exceed that of older citizens by at least 15 per-
centage points or more. Such trends show that while youth and their older
counterparts report using social media at similar rates overall, their incentives
and motivations for using such platforms differ in important ways.

Youth in the region vary dramatically in the level of trust in information they re-
ceive on social media. The highest rates of trust among youth are found in Mo-
rocco (77 percent) and Egypt (74 percent), followed by Lebanon (67 percent),
Palestine (56 percent), Iraq (53 percent), and Sudan (51 percent). In contrast,
less than half of youth in Algeria (49 percent), Yemen (47 percent), Tunisia (47
percent), Libya (41 percent), and Jordan (36 percent) trust social media sources
more than newspapers and TV news. The magnitude of the differences across
age cohorts is also varies widely, ranging from single digit differences in Jordan
(2 percentage points), Libya (5 percentage points), Yemen (3 percentage points),
and Sudan (3 percentage points) to much larger generational gaps in Lebanon
(16 percentage points), Egypt (18 percentage points), and Morocco (32 percent-
age points). Overall, however, youth are more trusting of the information they
receive from social media than are older citizens in every country surveyed.

Notably, the most used social media platform among youth across the region is
Facebook. The exception to this finding is Yemen, where youth use WhatsApp at
a higher rate than Facebook (46 percent versus 36 percent). Youth in Egypt (94

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percent), Algeria (91 percent), Morocco (90 percent), and Lebanon (90 percent)
are most partial to Facebook. More than eight-in-ten youth in Sudan (85 per-
cent), Libya (82 percent), and Jordan (81 percent), and more than seven-in-ten
youth in Iraq (74 percent) and Palestine (73 percent) use Facebook.

Education and Employment

Education System

Rates of youth satisfaction with state education systems, both overall and as they
compare to older generations, vary greatly throughout the region. Nearly two-
thirds of youth in Palestine (65 percent) and Jordan (65 percent), and over half
of youth in Yemen (54 percent) are satisfied or completely satisfied. However,
fewer than half are satisfied in Sudan (43 percent) and Lebanon (39 percent),
and roughly a third are satisfied in Algeria (34 percent), Libya (31 percent), Egypt
(30 percent), and Tunisia (30 percent). The lowest rates of satisfaction are seen
among Iraqi youth (24 percent) and Moroccan youth (17 percent). Given this
wide variation, there seems to be limited regional consensus about the state
of education. However, one potential regional trend is that across most of the
countries surveyed youth are less satisfied with the education system than are
their older counterparts.
Indeed, in the majority of countries this discrepancy
is small, as seen in Palestine (1 percentage point), Sudan (2 percentage points),
Libya (2 percentage points), Algeria (3 percentage points), Yemen (3 percent-
age points), Iraq (4 percentage points), and Lebanon (5 percentage points). Yet
elsewhere, for instance in Morocco and Egypt, the intergenerational gap is more
sizable (22 percentage points and 10 percentage points, respectively). Excep-
tions to this trend are found only among Tunisian and Jordanian youth, both of
whom voice satisfaction at higher rates than do older citizens (30 percent versus
28 percent and 65 percent versus 59 percent, respectively).

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Looking to perceived corruption in the education system as one potential rea-
son contributing to low levels of satisfaction, in many countries more than half of
youth believe that rashwa (bribes) is required in order to receive better access to
education services. This belief is most commonly held in Egypt (64 percent), fol-
lowed by Lebanon (62 percent), Sudan (55 percent), Morocco (54 percent), Alge-
ria (53 percent), Yemen (53 percent), Iraq (52 percent), and Tunisia (50 percent).
However, while many youth believe that paying rashwa is necessary, this trend
is not common to all MENA youth as no more than a third of youth in Palestine
(33 percent), Libya (32 percent), and Jordan (29 percent) say the same regard-
ing rashwa to access better educational services. Prevalence of rashwa might
contribute to some dissatisfaction with state education systems, but it does not
account for or explain it in its entirety.

Employment Opportunities

Similar to satisfaction rates with state education systems, levels of youth satis-
faction with the government’s performance on creating employment opportu-
nities vary. However, despite this variation, across the region youth approval is
overwhelmingly weak, ranging from a low of five percent in Lebanon to a high
In addition to Lebanon, single-digit approval of
of only 32 percent in Yemen.
government performance on creating employment opportunities is seen in Iraq
(6 percent) and Algeria (9 percent). Fewer than two-in-ten youth in Morocco
(13 percent), Palestine (14 percent), Jordan (15 percent), Tunisia (16 percent),

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Sudan (17 percent), and Egypt (18 percent), and less than a quarter of youth in
Libya (22 percent) approve.

Moreover, in addition to widespread dissatisfaction with government efforts to
improve employment opportunities, the vast majority of young Arab citizens
also believe that obtaining employment requires having strong connections.
Roughly nine-in-ten youth in Iraq (95 percent), Lebanon (94 percent), Jordan
(94 percent), Tunisia (94 percent), Libya (91 percent), Algeria (91 percent), Sudan
(90 percent), Palestine (90 percent), Egypt (90 percent), and Morocco (88 per-
cent) say that based on recent experience they think that obtaining employment
through wasta (personal connections) happens often or sometimes. Though
comparatively fewer, nearly seven-in-ten Yemeni youth (69 percent) hold the
same perception regarding the connection between wasta and employment.

Emigration

Given broad youth dissatisfaction with conditions in their countries, it is perhaps
not surprising that youth across the MENA region have a strong desire to em-
igrate. In six of eleven countries surveyed, roughly half or more of youth want
to leave their homeland. With the exception of Libya, North African and Jorda-
nian youth are most eager to migrate with about half or more citing a desire
to leave. Youth in Morocco cite not only the greatest desire to migrate, but also

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show the greatest discrepancy with older generation’s desire to do so (70 per-
cent versus 25 percent). Meanwhile, over half of youth in Sudan (62 percent),
Jordan (59 percent), Tunisia (56 percent) and Algeria (56 percent) also wish to
leave their country. Roughly a third of Libyan (31 percent), Yemeni (33 percent),
and Lebanese (35 percent) youth say the same.

Regional trends are evident with regard to which countries youth are most ea-
ger to migrate. Over two-thirds of youth in French-speaking North Africa want
to migrate to a European country. This is not surprising given both the proximity
of their countries to Europe and, perhaps more importantly, the close linkages
between France and these countries. In contrast, six-in-ten youth in Egypt, and
roughly half of youth in Yemen (48 percent) and Sudan (45 percent), say they
want to emigrate to a GCC country, which is in line with historic patterns of labor
migration to this area. Interestingly, fewer than half of youth across the region
hope to migrate to North America. Jordanian youth are most likely to cite a
desire to migrate to North America (42 percent), whereas Yemeni, Libyan, and
Tunisian youth are least likely (12 percent, 13 percent, and 13 percent).

The least preferred destination for youth is non-GCC MENA countries. Fewer than
a third of youth across the region have considered emigrating to such countries.
Lebanese and Tunisian youth are least eager (4 percent and 5 percent, respec-
tively) while Yemeni youth are most eager, though still fewer than three-in-ten
Yemeni youth cite an interest in emigration to a non-GCC MENA country (27

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percent).

Perceived Civil Liberties

Of the countries surveyed by the Arab Barometer, Tunisia is the only one cate-
gorized as free by Freedom House, with the remainder of countries identified as
partly free or not free. As such, it is unsurprising that youth in Tunisia are more
confident in their civil liberties like freedom of expression and right to peaceful
protest than are youth in other surveyed countries. However, despite being com-
paratively more confident in the protection of their civil liberties, Tunisian youth
are still quite similar to youth in the rest of the region who report generally low,
though varied, confidence in both freedom of speech and right to peacefully
protest.

Looking first to freedom of speech, Tunisian youth are indeed most confident in
their freedom of expression with over six-in-ten saying that it is guaranteed to a
great or medium extent in the country (63 percent). More than half of youth in
Jordan (56 percent) and Lebanon (51 percent) say the same. In the rest of the
region fewer than half of respondents feel their freedom of expression is guar-
anteed. About half of youth in Yemen (49 percent), roughly four-in-ten youth
in Palestine (42 percent), Egypt (40 percent), and Morocco (39 percent), and
roughly a third of youth in Algeria (35 percent) and Iraq (33 percent) say that

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freedom of expression is guaranteed to a great or medium extent. Least confi-
dent of their freedom of expression are youth in Sudan (25 percent) and Libya
(24 percent).

When comparing youth perceptions of their freedom of speech to the percep-
tions of older age cohorts, there is no clear regional trend. For instance, youth
in Lebanon (+10 points), Jordan (+3 points), Yemen (+4 points) and Palestine
(+4 points) are more confident in their freedom of expression than are older
citizens. Yet, the opposite trend is apparent in Morocco (-16 points), Egypt (-5
points), and Tunisia (-4 points).
In the remainder of countries surveyed (Libya,
Sudan, Iraq, and Algeria) youth and older citizens do not diverge by more than
a point and rate their freedom of expression similarly.

Youth perception of their freedom to participate in peaceful protests is also low
across the region, never exceeding half of youth in any country. Though nearly
half of youth in Tunisia (49 percent), Lebanon (49 percent), Jordan (47 percent),
and Yemen (46 percent) feel their freedom to peacefully demonstrate is guaran-
teed to a medium or great extent, fewer youth hold this belief elsewhere in the
region. Four-in-ten Palestinian youth, a third of Moroccan youth, and three-in-
ten Iraqi youth are confident of their freedom to participate in peaceful demon-
strations. Meanwhile, roughly a quarter of youth in Algeria (27 percent), Libya
(24 percent), and Egypt (24 percent) and fewer than two-in-ten in Sudan (19
percent) say the same.

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Attitudes on Gender

Arab youth are divided in their views on gender equality. On the one hand,
most are supportive of equal rights for women, with the exception of inheri-
tance. However, there is substantially less support for women enjoying equal
roles in society. This is particularly evident in the political sphere.

Throughout the region fewer than a third of youth say that a university education
is more important for men than for women. Support for university education
for men compared with women is highest in Yemen and Sudan (27 percent,
each), followed by roughly two-in-ten youth in Jordan (23 percent), Egypt (22
percent), Algeria (20 percent), Iraq (19 percent), Tunisia (17 percent) and Libya
(17 percent). Even lower rates of support for men’s education taking precedence
over that of women are found in Palestine (14 percent), Lebanon (13 percent),
and Morocco (12 percent).

Youth also generally hold liberal views on the question of whether women should
have equal rights in the decision to get a divorce. The exception to this trend
is in Sudan, where support for women’s equal rights in deciding to divorce falls
below five-in-ten (46 percent). Support is highest in Lebanon (87 percent), fol-
lowed by Iraq (81 percent), Jordan (80 percent), Tunisia (78 percent), Morocco
(78 percent), Palestine (76 percent), Libya (75 percent) and Algeria (72 percent).
Though still greater than half, lower rates of support are seen in Egypt (64 per-

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Arab Barometer – Wave V
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cent) and Yemen (55 percent). Notably, in most countries surveyed, the views
held by youth about women’s right to divorce are not significantly different from
the views held by older citizens.

In a departure from predominantly liberal views on women’s rights, surprisingly
few youth in the region agree that women’s share of inheritance should be equal
to that of men. Nonetheless, Lebanon is a clear regional outlier to this trend with
over six-in-ten youth saying they agree or strongly agree that inheritance should
be equal between the sexes (62 percent). In contrast, far fewer youth elsewhere
are as supportive. Roughly three-in-ten youth in Iraq (30 percent) and Egypt (28
percent), and around one-fourth of youth in Morocco (26 percent) and Tunisia
(24 percent) support equal inheritance. Still fewer youth in Algeria (18 percent),
Jordan (18 percent), Libya (16 percent), Sudan (13 percent), and Palestine (8
percent) say the same.

A plurality of youth in the region also believe that husbands should have the
final say in all family decisions. Support for this sentiment is greatest in Sudan
(73 percent), Algeria (73 percent), and Iraq (70 percent), followed by Egypt (66
percent) and Libya (66 percent). Youth across Tunisia (56 percent), Yemen (55
percent) and the Levant hold similar views to each other regarding women and
family decision-making.
In Lebanon and Jordan 55 percent of youth believe
husbands should have the final say in all family decisions, while in Palestine 50
percent say the same. Though Moroccan youth are least likely to support limiting

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women’s roles in family decision-making, nonetheless nearly four-in-ten say that
husbands should have the final say in all family decisions (38 percent). Notably,
though youth in Morocco are far less likely than older generations to support
this notion (-15), youth in Jordan (+6), Lebanon (+7), Libya (+5), and Tunisia (+2)
are more supportive than are their older counterparts.

In every country surveyed, with the exception of Morocco, over half of youth agree
that, in general, men are better at political leadership than women. Roughly
eight-in-ten youth in Sudan (80 percent) and Jordan (78 percent), and roughly
three-quarters of youth in Algeria (74 percent) hold this belief. Across much of
the rest of the region youth hold this view at similar rates. For instance, around
seven-in-ten youth say men are better at political leadership in Egypt (70 per-
cent), Iraq (69 percent), Yemen (68 percent), Palestine (68 percent), and Libya
(67 percent). Meanwhile, fewer in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Morocco say that men
are better at political leadership than women (52 percent, 51 percent, and 31
percent, respectively).

Interestingly, despite unfavorably comparing female political leaders to men and
criticizing women’s role as decision-makers in the family, Arab youth are often
open both to the idea of a woman being a leader of a Muslim country and to
setting aside a certain percentage of elected positions for women as a means
of attaining fairer political representation. More than half of youth support the
notion of a female president or prime minister of a Muslim nation in all coun-

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tries surveyed, excluding Algeria (37 percent). Roughly half of youth in Sudan
(51 percent) and Libya (54 percent), six-in-ten youth in Yemen (57 percent), Jor-
dan (60 percent), and Palestine (64 percent) and roughly seven-in-ten youth in
Tunisia (67 percent), Egypt (68 percent) and Iraq (69 percent) affirm that women
can become prime ministers or presidents of Muslim countries. Moroccan and
Lebanese youth (77 percent and 79 percent, respectively) are the most accept-
ing of this right.

The majority of MENA youth also believe that in order to achieve fairer represen-
tation a certain percentage of elected positions should be set aside for women.
Support for this right exceeds half of all youth in all countries surveyed. Youth in
Iraq and Lebanon (79 percent, each) are most supportive, followed by Sudan (76
percent), Palestine (75 percent), Jordan (72 percent) and Yemen (69 percent).
Excluding Sudan, North African youth show the least support for women’s quo-
tas in elected positions with less than two-thirds of youth in Egypt (66 percent),
Libya (65 percent), Tunisia (63 percent), Morocco (62 percent) and Algeria (53
percent) saying they agree or strongly agree with this idea.

International Relations

In over half of the countries surveyed, youth are most supportive of stronger ties
with China and least interested in stronger ties with the United States among
global powers. Youth in Jordan (70 percent), Tunisia (65 percent), Sudan (62
percent), Libya (61 percent), Yemen (50 percent), Palestine (49 percent), and
Iraq (47 percent) prefer strengthening ties with China at a higher rate than they
do for ties with the United States, the United Kingdom, or Russia. Exceptions to
this include youth in Morocco, who have a slightly stronger preference for closer
ties with the United Kingdom (63 percent), youth in Lebanon and Algeria, who
are more supportive by a small margin of stronger ties with Russia (38 percent
and 42 percent, respectively), and Egyptian youth, who are equally supportive
of strengthening ties with the United States and Russia (41 percent, each).

In a majority of countries surveyed youth support for stronger ties with the United
States not only falls below 50 percent, but is also lower than youth support for
strengthening ties with other world powers. Exceptions to the former are Sudan
(60 percent), Morocco (57 percent), and Jordan (55 percent) where youth sup-
port exceeds half. In contrast, fewer than half of youth in Tunisia (47 percent),
and roughly a third of youth in Libya (36 percent), Iraq (34 percent), Palestine,
Lebanon, and Algeria (31 percent, each) say that relations with the United States
should become stronger. Of all countries surveyed Yemeni youth show not only
the least interest in closer ties with the United States (22 percent), but they are
also least interested in strengthening ties with Russia (26 percent) relative to
youth in other countries.

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Looking to regional powers, one clear trend is that Arab youth are generally less
interested in stronger relations with Iran and more interested in improving re-
lations with Turkey. Though support for stronger ties with Iran never exceeds
four-in-ten youth in any country surveyed, support is highest in Lebanon (38 per-
cent), followed by Sudan (36 percent), Palestine (34 percent), Iraq (32 percent)
and Tunisia (31 percent). In Lebanon and Iraq, sectarian divides might explain
the comparatively greater support for strengthening ties with Iran, a country
with a strong Shi’ite majority. Roughly two-in-ten youth in Morocco (22 per-
cent), Jordan (21 percent), Yemen (20 percent), Algeria (20 percent), and Libya
(18 percent) prefer stronger relations with Iran, while only 8 percent of Egyptian
youth say the same.

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In comparison to other regional powers (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran), Arab
youth tend to prefer strengthening relations with Turkey. Youth in Jordan (82
percent), Palestine (75 percent), Tunisia (64 percent), Yemen (61 percent), Mo-
rocco (56 percent), Algeria (53 percent), and Iraq (45 percent), are all more likely
to want improved relations with Turkey than to do so for relations with Saudi Ara-
bia, Qatar, or Iran. Youth in Sudan prefer strengthening relations with Saudi Ara-
bia, Turkey, and Qatar at similar rates (70 percent, 73 percent, and 74 percent,
respectively), as do youth in Lebanon (41 percent, 41 percent, and 42 percent,
respectively). In Libya and Egypt youth by far prefer improving ties with Saudi
Arabia (55 percent and 58 percent).

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About Arab Barometer

The Arab Barometer is a nonpartisan research network that
provides insights into the social, political, and economic attitudes
and values of ordinary citizens across the Arab world.

We have been conducting rigorous, and nationally representative
face-to-face public opinion surveys on probability samples of the
adult populations across the Arab world since 2006. The margin of
error is ±3 percent.

The Arab Barometer is the largest repository of publicly available
data on the views of men and women in the MENA region. Our
findings give a voice to the needs and concerns of Arab publics.

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