Urbanization is transforming this region. Two globalized patterns of urbanization with distinct geographic signatures are now apparent: one pattern in the newly oil-rich countries, and another in those countries where development has primarily resulted in rural-to-urban migration, with its associated crowded slum housing.

Most people lived in small rural settlements until the 1970s, when people began to migrate in significant numbers from villages to urban areas in response to economic forces driven by oil wealth and globalization, and by agricultural modernization that displaced small farmers. In locations other than the Gulf states, the shift toward green revolution export-oriented agriculture reduced the amount of labor required to produce crops headed for the world market. Even though the green revolution created needed export income for the countries, people who became part of the excess labor force had to leave the countryside for the cities. In North Africa, drought also instigated rural-to-urban migration (Figure 6.24B). By 2013, more than 70 percent of the region’s people lived in urban areas (see the Figure 6.24 map); more than 434 cities had populations of at least 100,000; and 37 cities had more than 1 million people. The largest metropolitan area in the region, and one of the largest in the world, is Cairo, with 17 million residents in 2012.

The petroleum-rich Gulf states are now highly urbanized. Between 70 and 100 percent of the (still small) population now lives in urban areas, which are extravagant in design. These modern Gulf cities draw investment in high-tech ventures and high-end tourism. The new ventures and the construction of office and living space require a wide range of skilled workers from all over the world. For example, Dubai (one of the United Arab Emirates) has built elaborate (and as yet largely unoccupied) new high-rise condominiums for the rich. On Palm Jumeirah, a fanciful palm tree–shaped island and peninsula off the Gulf coastline, huge homes await buyers (see Figure 6.24A).

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Outside the Gulf states, there has been far less planning and financing for urban growth. For example, in 1950, Cairo had about 2.4 million residents, while today it is home to over 17 million people. These millions of new residents live in huge makeshift slums. Meanwhile, much of Cairo’s middle class occupies the medieval interiors of the old city, where streets are narrow pedestrian pathways and plumbing and other services are chronically dysfunctional (see Figure 6.24C).

Internal and International Migration The prospect of better education opportunities, jobs, and living conditions pull rural internal migrants into Cairo and other cities outside the Gulf states. However, because stable, well-paying jobs are scarce, many migrants end up working in the informal economy (see Chapter 3), sometimes as street vendors, as casual laborers, or as menial service providers. Unfortunately, education also does little to ensure employment; for decades this region has been noted for its large numbers of unemployed and underemployed university graduates.

In the Gulf states, on the other hand, there has been a deficit of trained native young people willing and able to work in white-collar jobs, yet surplus trained workers from neighboring countries have not been welcomed. Instead, immigrants come from all over the world to be temporary guest workers. Some work as laborers on construction sites and as low-wage workers throughout the service economy, but many work in shops and professions. In some countries, such as the UAE, guest workers make up 85 percent of the labor force. Most employers prefer Muslim guest workers, and over the last two decades, several hundred thousand Muslim workers have arrived from Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, as well as from Egypt, Pakistan, and India. Some female domestic and clerical workers come from Muslim countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. Overwhelmingly, these immigrant workers are temporary residents with no job security and no right to become citizens. They remit most of their income to their families at home and often live in stark conditions alongside the opulence of those enriched by oil and gas.

Refugees comprise a major category of migrants, as this region has the largest number of refugees in the world. Usually they are escaping human conflict, but environmental disasters such as earthquakes or long-term drought also displace many people. When Israel was created in 1949, many Palestinians were placed in refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Palestinians still constitute the world’s oldest and largest refugee population, numbering at least 5 million. Elsewhere, Iran is sheltering more than a million Afghans and Iraqis because of continuing violence and instability in their home countries. Across the region, even more people are refugees within their own countries: 1.7 million Iraqis are internal refugees, and in Sudan, about 2.3 million internal refugees are living in camps. The conflict against the Assad regime in Syria has recently produced several million internal and external refugees.

Refugee camps often become semipermanent communities of stateless people in which whole generations are born, mature, and die. Although residents of these camps can show enormous ingenuity in creating a community and an informal economy, the cost in social disorder is high. Tension and crowding create health problems. Because birth control is generally unavailable, refugee women have an average of 5.78 children each. Disillusionment is widespread. Years of hopelessness, extreme hardship, lack of education or well-paid employment take their toll on youth and adults alike. Because of these factors, it is easy for Islamists and jihadists to find new recruits, which they do by providing basic services to camp residents. Moreover, even though international organizations also provide for refugees, the refugees constitute a huge drain on the resources of their host countries. In Jordan, for example, native Jordanians are a minority in their own country because the more than 3 million Palestinian refugees and their children account for well over half the total population of the country, and their presence has changed life for all Jordanians. They have been joined by over 750,000 Iraqis, and as of 2013, more than 250,000 Syrians have crossed into Jordan.