Economies of the ummah
by Sakib Sherani
WHAT is the combined size of the economies of all Muslim countries?
Which are the largest and most dynamic? What are some of the defining
economic characteristics of Muslim countries?
These are some of the questions for which, surprisingly — or perhaps
tellingly — there are few readily available answers. Indeed, while many
of us have an idea of the total Muslim population of the world, most of
us are not even sure how many countries the Muslim world consists of —
and there are differing numbers in cyberspace on even this most basic of
questions.
Let us start with the last question first. While many in the media in
Pakistan cite the number of Muslim countries as 57 or 58, quoting the
website of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), using the list
of member countries of the OIC can lead to a misleading result in that
in addition to Muslim-majority countries, it includes others with
significant Muslim minority populations as well. Hence, Nigeria and
Mozambique are listed as members of the OIC, but are not Muslim-majority
countries.
The most authentic list comes from the seminal 2010 study by the Pew
Research centre, which lists Muslim-majority countries at 49. Including
the Muslim population of countries that have a large Muslim minority
cohort, such as India and Nigeria among others, the combined total of
adherents to Islam is around 1.62 billion, or roughly 23pc of the world
population.
Muslim countries account for 21.7pc of the world’s land mass, with
the largest Muslim country in terms of geographic size being Kazakhstan.
It is followed by Algeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Nearly 22pc of the Muslim population of the world resides in the Arab
countries, while almost 1.3 billion Muslims are residents of the
remaining Muslim-majority countries.
The most populous Muslim-majority countries are Indonesia, Pakistan
and Bangladesh with nearly 36pc of the total Muslim population of the
world residing in them. The smallest Muslim country in the world is the
island nation of Maldives, with a total population of 338,442.
The aggregate size of the economies of all Muslim countries put
together is around $5.7 trillion — or 8.1pc of the world total. The
largest economy in the Islamic world is Indonesia with a size of $846
billion, followed by Turkey ($775bn) and Saudi Arabia ($577bn). Iran is
the only other Muslim country with a GDP larger than $500bn.
While Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in terms of
population, it ranks eighth within the Islamic world in terms of size of
the economy.
The oil-producing countries of the Islamic world account for the bulk
of the combined size of the economy of the ummah, with a share of 73pc.
Excluding the contribution of oil to the economies of Muslim-majority
countries, the non-oil GDP of the Islamic world is a paltry 4pc of the
world GDP (my estimate).
The largest non-oil producing economy of the Islamic world is Turkey,
followed by Malaysia and Pakistan. While Indonesia has a fairly
diversified economy, oil is a significant part of its GDP.
Since 1980, the fastest-growing economies in the Muslim world have
been Qatar (the size of whose economy has increased 22 times over this
period), Oman (12 times), Malaysia (11.5 times), Turkey (11.3 times) ,
Indonesia (10.8 times) and Egypt (10.3 times). Pakistan has also been a
relatively strong performer, with the size of its economy growing 8.9
times since 1980. By comparison, the world GDP grew by 6.4 times over
this period.
Overall, the combined per capita income of Muslim countries amounts
to $4,185, which is approximately 40pc of the world’s. Compared to all
developed (high income) countries, the per capita income of the Muslim
world amounts to 11pc of the former’s level. Obviously, there are wide
variations between, and within, the different Muslim countries on this
score.
The wealthiest Muslim countries in terms of per capita income
(current US dollars) are Qatar, Kuwait and Brunei Darussalam. Their
respective per capita incomes as of 2012 were $90,524, $56,514 and
$41,127. Pakistan ranks 30th in per capita terms within the Muslim
world.
Within the Muslim world, the largest exporters are Saudi Arabia,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey, exporting goods and services worth
$376bn, $264bn, $213bn and $185bn respectively. The largest non-oil
exporters are Malaysia and Turkey.
By far the most technologically advanced Muslim-majority country is
Malaysia, which exports nearly $60bn worth of high-technology goods each
year. Far behind in terms of technological content of exports are
Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Turkey.
In terms of literacy, the most educated Muslim-majority countries are
the Central Asian ‘stans’ — Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan — with nearly universal adult literacy. At least nine
Muslim-majority countries have adult literacy levels greater than 90pc,
while Pakistan languishes at the near-bottom on this score.
According to the World Development Indicators, Afghanistan ranks
right at the top in the Muslim world in terms of health spending as a
percentage of GDP. Twenty-five Muslim countries spend 5pc of GDP or more
on health services — more than twice the level of Pakistan. Pakistan
ranks seventh from the bottom within the Muslim world on this front.
Finally, in terms of science and technology, only one Muslim country
invests more than 1pc of GDP on research and development (R&D) —
Tunisia. Turkey ranks second, while Pakistan ranks a surprising fourth
in the list of countries with recent data — reflecting both data
limitations as well as the poor state of R&D in the rest of the
Muslim world.
