Understanding MENA Through Data and Research.
MENA Insight uses data and research to make the economic and social challenges facing the Middle East and North Africa easier to understand.
An independent, student-led research project, currently in its first public release. Ten countries are covered, with Lebanon as the first detailed case study.
Verified indicators with their sources, definitions and limits attached. Research written to be read by anyone. And a clear statement, on every page, of what is not yet known.
Ten countries, on the map and in the list
Select a country to open its section. All ten carry written analysis and verified data, but not the same depth: Lebanon is the first detailed case study.
Numbers that carry their own caveats
Every chart on this site states its source, who collected it, its units, its definition, what it does not measure, when the source was last updated and when MENA Insight retrieved it — and can be downloaded as CSV with all of that attached.
Ten countries, one flagship case study
Lebanon is the first detailed case study. Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Algeria and Syria carry published overviews, with the structure already in place to bring each one up to Lebanon's depth over time.
Good information about this region is scattered, technical, or written for someone else
The numbers are public but hard to use
Most of the data on this site was already free to download. It sits in databases built for economists, behind indicator codes, with the caveats that make it meaningful buried in documentation. MENA Insight republishes it with the definition, the units, the collection source and the limitation printed next to the chart — not in a footnote.
Averages hide the people inside them
An inflation rate is one number standing in for millions of different experiences. A household paid in a collapsing currency and a household paid in dollars lived through different crises in the same street. That is why every indicator on this site is published with its definition and caveat beside it.
What is missing is information too
Sudan's unemployment series stops in 2022. There is no published measure of how many hours a day Lebanese households actually have electricity. Most sites quietly leave these gaps out. This one labels them, explains why they exist, and points you to the source that could fill them.
Written for anyone, sourced for scrutiny
The audience is the general public. The standard is the one a researcher, journalist, teacher or policy analyst would apply. Those two things are compatible: plain language is not the same as loose language, and a claim that cannot be traced to a source does not appear here at all.
Start anywhere
Follow a country, interrogate a dataset, or read how the research is done before you trust any of it.