This map and chart illustrate one of the most important aspects of the Middle East region – the uneven distribution of a very important natural resource. One can make connections between this map and migration, GDP, settlement, war and more. What do you think?
When initially looking at this map, it is clear how uneven the distribution of crude oil really is; the colors used also make this apparent. The discovery of oil in the Middle East had vast effects on the region and its peoples, economically and socially. The first areas that draw attention are Saudi Arabia and Iran and, on the other side of the spectrum, are countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the highest producers of crude oil, while Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon are the lowest.
The most obvious connections to make is between Crude Oil Preserves and GDP per capita. Surprisingly, Kuwait, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates do not have the highest amount of reserves, yet they are on the highest range of GDP per capita and lowest range of unemployment. Qatar, for example, is the country with the highest GDP per capita, yet its number of crude oil preserves is approximately the same as Yemen or Syria. Additionally, Iraq’s GDP is similar to that of Yemen, yet it has approximately the same amount of crude oil reserves as Kuwait and UAE. Migration into these oil rich states started after its discovery and led to a massive influx of foreigners settling and looking for jobs there. Saudi Arabia was the country with the highest amount of immigration of migrant workers, and I would have predicted that this would be because it had the largest amount of crude oil preserves. Other social effects of the oil production in the Middle East is conflict. These oil producing countries are interactive with one another in the industry and this can cause disagreement. An example of this is the Iraq-Kuwait dispute, in which Kuwait accused Iraq of exceeding the OPEC quota and driving down the price of oil. Disagreements, such as the Iraq-Kuwait dispute, were contributing factors to wars like the Gulf War.