Author’s Introduction
The impetus behind the preparation of this book was the need for a comprehensive reference providing geographic, demographic, educational, health, and economic data and information for the countries of the Islamic world. Throughout my academic pursuit of a master’s degree in geography and my professional career,
I encountered difficulty and scarcity in obtaining well-documented data related to Islamic countries worldwide. This compelled me to create a detailed reference for those seeking up-to-date information on all geopolitical aspects pertaining to member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
After extensive hours of labor and meticulous data collection, I have finally arrived at this comprehensive reference book. It provides readers with geographic, demographic, educational, health, and economic data that will be beneficial to learners and researchers alike.
The member states have been adopted as listed in the Islamic Summit held in Mecca in December 2005, totaling (57) countries. At that time, I embarked on the creation of this reference book and was able to compile the necessary data from reputable internet sources specifically in 2006. The required and updated data from authenticated websites in 2023 were gathered for use in this book and for comparison with previous data.
The book is divided into two sections:
The first section covers facts and digital indicators related to population, education, health, and economics, relying on the most recent available data. It also includes the natural map of each Islamic country, its Area, Capital, and the location of its highest topographic point.
The second section focuses on representing the demographic, educational, health, and economic realities of all OIC countries through graphical representations.
This visual representation allows readers to understand current indicators, compare them with data from previous years spanning (11) to (20) years, and analyze these indicators to identify positive and negative trends, enabling researchers and students to conduct necessary studies tailored to their interests.
This book has been prepared to enlighten readers in the Islamic world and beyond, and it can be beneficial to graduate students, high school students, college and university students, as well as individuals from all walks of life. It can also serve as a fundamental reference for those interested in conducting studies and research, offering readily available and statistic-based information up to the year 2023, along with clear graphical comparisons.
This will save readers time and effort, enabling them to compare with future statistics and measure the progress or regression in all population, education, health, and economic sectors according to their areas of interest.
The book is presented in both Arabic and English languages and follows English alphabetization in its index.
The design of the book has been electronically executed by the author, with reader-friendly color schemes, maps, and visual aids to facilitate immediate identification of Islamic countries on the world map.
I hope this book fulfills its objectives and opens new horizons for all the sons and daughters of the Islamic world.
May Allah grant success
The objectives of the book states of the Islamic world
The objectives of this reference book can be summarized as follows:
1. Identification of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries (OIC) .
2. Recognition of the geographic location of Islamic countries.
3. Understanding the geographic distribution of Islamic countries across the continents.
4. Acquisition of essential geographic information including area, population, and capital of each country.
5. Visual representation of the country within its political boundaries.
6. Displaying topographic features through natural maps supported by a scale.
7. Identifying the highest topographic point in each country and naming it on the map.
8. Presenting population data, including population count, growth rate, population density, urban and rural population percentages for each OIC country.
9. Providing data related to education, including literacy rates, education expenditure percentages, and compulsory education years for all Islamic countries.
10. Offering health-related data, including healthcare expenditure percentages, life expectancy, child mortality rates, population per physician, and population per hospital bed for each OIC country.
11. Presenting economic data, including GDP (Gross Domestic Product), GDP per capita, economic sector contributions (agriculture, industry, services), and unemployment rates for all Islamic countries.
12. Ranking of each OIC country for the aforementioned data through graphical representation.
13. Comparing recent data with older data, graphically representing them, and conducting necessary scientific analysis based on the results, then presenting them to the reader.