15 Richest Arab Countries in 2018

It is well known that some of the Arab countries are among the richest in the world, but which are the richest Arab countries in 2018? Let’s find out.

Among the things that are very important for the prosperity of a country are natural resources, which might bring a country to the top, concerning wealth status. By natural resources, in the first place we mean oil, gas, different ore and such. And we know that a few Arab countries are very rich in some of those. Nevertheless, today we will not rank the richest Arab countries by their natural resources, but if you are interested in this aspect in general, you might want to take a look at the 15 richest countries in the world by natural resources.

As for the richest Arab country in the world in 2018 (and the poorest Arab country as well), we came upon a nicely illustrated data, showing the map of the world according to the GDP in 2108 for all the world’s countries. You might have already guessed which is the richest Arab country in the world, but we will reveal it later on our list. And, concerning the poorest one, it seems that Sudan takes the number one with GDP of only $795.27 in 2018.

So, as one of the good indicators of a country’s wealth, we took an annual GDP. The information on the GDP for 2018, which helped us rank the richest Arab countries in 2018, came from the International Monetary Fond and Understanding Money. On this source, we can also see predictions for the GDP state in the next several years. Here we took into consideration countries of the Arab League, which comprises of 22 countries, so yes, we included Gulf richest country here as well. To conclude – today, we ranked the richest Arab countries in 2018 were by their GDP per capita.

Interestingly not a single country from our today’s list has found its place among the 25 richest, healthiest and most advanced countries in the world. Even though today we weren’t focusing on all these parameters, one must expect at least one of the richest Arab countries to be among the most advanced countries in the world, but surprisingly, according to our research and parameters that we used in our previous article, that is not the case. What about the global picture? Do you know what is the richest country in the world? Well, according to GDP per capita parameter, Luxembourg is the wealthiest country on the planet and Norway is next to it (and they will continue to be in the top in the next several years, as per the GDP projections).

Now back to the Arab world, it seems that Dubai is the richest Arab city, although people from the United Arab Emirates don’t refer to it as a city but as an Emirate. We looked into this further, and find out that Dubai is also considered a city-state, hence we can safely say that it is the richest Arab city. And what about the United Arab Emirates – is it the richest Arab country in 2018? We will see about that a bit later, but, it seems that the richest Arab Country in 2017 was actually Qatar, so, let’s see how (or if) things changed during one year. So, the richest Arab countries in 2018 are:

15. Kuwait

GDP per capita 2018: $ 1,916

The conomy of Kuwait is based on petroleum resources, but, since it is a small country, it can hardly parry to some of the richest Arab countries on the top of our list.

14. Djibouti

GDP per capita 2018: $2,085

Djibouti is not a very rich country, but the economic growth in the last several years (for example around 6% in 2016 and 2017) has secured it a place among the richest Arab countries in 2018.

13. Egypt

GDP per capita 2018: $2,572

It is estimated that Egypt might reach high grounds, and become one of the 10 leading economies by 2030 in the region. But, today’s numbers are far from that goal, even though it is among the 15 richest Arab countries in 2018.

12. Morocco

GDP per capita 2018: $3,355

Agriculture, industry and services are the most important for the steadiness of Morocco’s GDP per capita, and they represent 15%, 30% and 50% of GDP respectively.

11. Tunisia

GDP per capita 2018: $3,573

Agriculture is the main industry in Tunisia, the most competitive country in Africa. Hence, thanks to its agricultural development, Tunisia steadily keeps up with the rest of the richest Arab countries in 2018.

10. Jordan

GDP per capita 2018: $4,228

It is estimated that GDP of Jordan will increase during the future period, 2.3% in 2019, 2.4% in 2020, 2.7% in 2021 and so on. However, there is a possibility of increased unemployment in this country which may cause bigger problems, in addition to a great influx of Syrian refugees in this country.

9. Algeria

GDP per capita 2018: $4,450

The most important components of the Algerian economy are natural resources such as oil and gas. They represent 30% of GDP of Algeria and 95% of export earnings.

8. Iraq

GDP per capita 2018: $5,793

Since 2016, the economy of Iraq boosted for around 10%, when the price of oil rose. Now, for this reason, it stands as one of the richest Arab countries in 2018.

7. Libya

GDP per capita 2018: $6,639

Of the natural resources which are important for fast economic growth, Libya is relatively rich in oil. For this reason, they launched a project in the 21^st century to replace oil thermal plants by gas thermal plants, in order to have a higher percentage of oil for export.

6. Lebanon

GDP per capita 2018: $12,454

With GDP per capita of $12,454, Lebanon stands among the top richest Arab countries in 2018, even though it is not among the leading countries in the region by oil, gas or other resources.

5. Oman

GDP per capita 2018: $19,170

GDP per capita in Oman is rising little by little, slowly but steadily. The projected GDP increase for 2018 was 2.3%, and it is expected to rise around 2.5% in 2019.

4. Saudi Arabia

GDP per capita 2018: $23,187

Saudi Arabia holds about 16% of the whole world’s petroleum supplies and it represents 42% of GDP of this country, so it is not a surprise that it is among the top richest Arab countries in 2018.

3. Bahrain

GDP per capita 2018: $26,532

As for the richest Arab countries, the source of wealth in Bahrain lies in natural resources such as petroleum and gas. It also seems that GDP of this country will rise by about 3% in 2019.

2. United Arab Emirates

GDP per capita 2018: $41,476

Apparently, the United Arab Emirates is not the number one among the richest Arab countries in 2018, even though, as we have mentioned earlier, is the richest Arab city.

1. Qatar

GDP per capita 2018: $67,818

The number one richest Arab Country in 2018 is once again Qatar. But it also seems as it will hold this position in the next period again. This country began to flourish from the second half of the 20^th century after they stopped being just a poor British protectorate. And, thanks to the oil and gas, this country will indeed keep its present position in the future.