Almost half of the population is under fifteen years of age. Given the current annual rate of increase, the population will be approximately 280 million by the year 2000. The concept of average population density has little meaning when applied to the Arab world. Since significant human settlement is found only where water supplies are adequate, the overwhelming majority of Arabs lives in relatively high concentrations along coastal areas and major river valleys. The most striking example of this is Egypt, where more than ninety percent of the population lives on less than five percent of the land.
Agriculture is the primary economic activity in the Arab world.
The most important food crops are wheat, barley, rice, maize and millet. These are largely consumed within the region, while cotton, sugarcane, sugar beets and sesame are exported as cash crops. The distribution of petroleum and natural gas is highly localized, so that the Arab countries which possess these resources are relatively few. Other natural resources include iron, ore, lead, phosphate, cobalt and manganese. The Arab world is the region where man first moved into a settled form of society, cultivating grain and raising livestock, establishing cities and promoting diverse skills and occupations.