The Arab world – a people and region in a flux

The new BBC survey of 25,000 people in the Arab world is startling in its own way. It found more people than before, especially the under-30s, saying they are not religious. And it found a majority (except in Algeria) supportive of the idea of a woman as head of state. Click here for the story.

The survey, by the Arab Barometer research network based at Princeton University, is the largest and most in-depth undertaken in the Middle East and North Africa.

There are some caveats – questions omitted at some governments’ request; limited access in some countries; the Kuwaiti results too late for inclusion and Syria left out because of difficulty of access.

Even so, the survey’s findings do seem to paint a picture of a people and a region in a flux. Particularly striking is the finding that at least one in five people were considering emigrating and in Sudan, half the population wanted to leave.