1. Religious and Ethnic Groups of the Middle East Exploring Terms

2. 1. CIRCLE THE GROUPS THAT LIVE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Arabs Armenians Kurds Persians Jews Turks

3. Majority Arab Populations CIA The World Factbook 2012

4. Significant Armenian Populations Armenia: 97.9% - 2.7 million Azerbaijan: 2% - 160,000 Georgia: 5.7% - 248,000 Syria: 9.7% (w/Kurds) -1.8 million CIA The World Factbook 2013 Armenian Diaspora.com, 2013

5. Significant Kurdish Populations CIA The World Factbook 2013 Turkey: 18% - 14 million Iraq: 15-20% - 4.7 – 6.2 million Iran: 10% - 7.9 million Syria: 9.7% (w/ Armenians) – 2.2 million

6. Iran: 61% - 48 million CIA The World Factbook 2013 Significant Persian Populations

7. Significant Jewish Populations Israel: 80.1% - 5.8 million CIA The World Factbook 2013

8. Significant Turkish Populations Turkey: 70-75% - 55.8 – 59.8 million Cyprus: 18% - 150,000 Bulgaria: 8% - 560,000 CIA The World Factbook 2013

9. 2. Arabs are… A) A religious group B) A language group C) A national group D) An ethnic group D) Yes. Ethnicity is defined by religion, language, nationality or culture, therefore Arabs ARE an ethnic group. A) No. Arabs are NOT a religious group although MOST Arabs are Muslims, there are Christian and even Jewish Arabs. B) Yes and No. Although the Arabic language is a core and defining aspect of Arab culture, some Arabs, particularly immigrants of non-Arab nations such as the United States, do not speak Arabic. C) No. There are 22 different nations with majority Arab populations, therefore Arab does not suggest one particular nation.

10. 3. All Arabs are Muslims. True False

11. 4. All Arabs speak Arabic. True False

12. 5. All Arabs live in the Middle East. True False

13. 6. CIRCLE THE RELIGIONS THAT ORIGINATED IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Bahai Buddhism Christianity Hinduism Islam Judaism Zoroastrianism

14. Southeast Asia World Religion Origins CIA The World Factbook 2004

15. 7. What is the definition of “Muslim”? A Muslim is a follower of the religion of Islam.

16. 8. What is the definition of “Christian”? A Christian is a follower of the religion of Christianity.

17. 9. What is the definition of “Jew”? People who practice Judaism are called Jews, but Jew is also considered an ethnic term for people descended from Jews even if they no longer practice Judaism, such as “secular Jews.”

18. 10. All Israelis are Jews. True False Although Israel was established to be a haven for Jews from around the world and more than 5 million Jews live in Israel, there are more than a million Muslims in Israel as well nearly 300,000 Israelis who are Christian, Bahai or Hindu. “Population by Religion.” Statistical Abstract of Israel. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2012.

19. 11. What nation in the world has the largest Jewish population? Israel: 5.7 million (in the 2000s, the United States had the largest Jewish population) World Jewish Population, 2010 Published by the North American Jewish Data Bank

20. World Distribution of Jews World Jewish Population, 2010 Published by the North American Jewish Data Bank US: 5,275,000 Canada: 375,000 Argentina: 182,300 Brazil: 95,000 Russia: 205,000 France: 483,500 UK: 292,000 Israel: 5,703,700

21. 12. What nation in the world has the largest Christian population? The United States: 247 million Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life Global Christianity, December 2011

22. World Distribution of Christians Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life Global Christianity, December 2011 Percent of Christians by Region,

23. 13. What nation in the world has the largest Muslim population? Indonesia: 202 million Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life Mapping the Global Muslim Population, October 2009

24. 14. Most Muslims live in the Middle East. True False

26. Most Arabs are Muslim, but most Muslims are not Arab

27. 15. All Middle East nations have a Muslim majority. True False

28. Non-Muslim Majority Countries in the Middle East CIA The World Factbook 2004

29. 16. All Middle East nations have a Arab majority. True False

30. Non-Arab Majority Countries CIA The World Factbook 2004 Black

31. 17. What is the largest ethnic group in the Middle East without a state of its own? Kurds

32. Significant Kurdish Populations Turkey: 18% - 14 million Iraq: 15-20% - 4.7 – 6.2 million Iran: 10% - 7.9 million Syria: 9.7% (w/ Armenians) – 2.2 million CIA The World Factbook 2013