MEA Region: Meaning and Countries List

MEA stands for the Middle East and Africa. It is a business region that covers the countries of the Middle East and all 54 countries of Africa, about 69 countries in total. Global companies use MEA to plan sales and marketing for these two areas with one team, often after they split their EMEA region into Europe and MEA. This page lists the MEA countries, explains how MEA differs from MENA, EMEA and the GCC, and shows what the region means for marketing.

What Does MEA Mean?

MEA is short for the Middle East and Africa. It is not an official or political region. Companies, analysts and international organisations use it to group markets, and each one decides which countries it includes. The most common business definition is simple: MEA is EMEA without Europe.

How Many Countries Are in MEA?

Using the same country lists as our EMEA guide, MEA has 69 countries: 15 in the Middle East and 54 in Africa. The number changes with the definition. Some companies leave out countries where they do not sell, and some add neighbouring countries that the same regional team manages.

MEA Countries List

MEA Countries in the Middle East (15)

The Middle East part of MEA covers the six Gulf (GCC) states, the Levant, and Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Yemen.

MEA Countries in Africa (54)

The African countries are grouped by the sub-regions of the UN geoscheme: North, East, Central, Southern and West Africa.

MEA vs MENA vs EMEA and Other Region Acronyms

Why Companies Use an MEA Region

A global company often starts with one EMEA team. When its business in the Middle East and Africa grows, it splits EMEA into Europe and MEA, so one team can focus on markets that work differently from Europe. Many global companies run their MEA region from a regional office in a hub city such as Dubai.

Marketing in the MEA Region

MEA is one of the most diverse regions in the world, so one campaign rarely works across all of it. Plan by sub-region and by language:

• Languages change across the region. Arabic is spoken across the Middle East and North Africa, French in much of North, West and Central Africa, and English in the Gulf, East Africa and Southern Africa. Other markets need Portuguese, Swahili, Turkish, Persian or Hebrew.
• Search and social platforms differ by country. In the Middle East, Google has about 95% of searches, as our guide to search engines in the Middle East shows. The most used social and messaging apps change from market to market.
• Payments and delivery differ too. Card payments, cash on delivery and mobile money each lead in different countries.
• Most teams cannot cover 69 countries at once. Choose a few priority markets by size, spending power and ease of entry, then expand.

GOTOMENA focuses on the Arabic-speaking part of MEA: the Middle East and North Africa. For country detail, see our guides to digital marketing in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.

Conclusion

MEA means the Middle East and Africa: about 69 countries, and EMEA without Europe. Because there is no official list, write your own country list into every MEA plan. GOTOMENA helps global brands market in the Arabic-speaking countries of MEA with Arabic SEO, Arabic Google Ads and Arabic social media marketing. To discuss your plans, contact our team.