Maghreb

The Maghreb (Arabic: المغرب al-maghrib; lit. "the West") is one of the five regions of the Arab Union. It consists of the republics of Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara. "Maghreb" is also the Arabic name for Morocco; when the distinction is unclear, the wider region is usually called the "Maghreb Country" (بلاد المغرب bilād al-maghrib). The region is home to just over 100 million people, accounting for approximately 18% of the Arab Union's total population.

The Maghreb is the westernmost region of the Arab Union, and the only part of the country with a coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the region's inhabitants identify as Arab-Berbers; that is, they identify as Arabs (a primarily linguistic identity) while simultaneously recognising their Berber heritage. While up to 25% of the population speak one or more of the Berber languages, the majority exclusively speak Arabic, namely the Maghrebi Arabic group of dialects. A notable minority are also either fluent or competent in French, a result of the colonial history of the region.

The great majority of the Maghreb consists of arid landscape, as the region forms the northwestern portion of the Sahara Desert. As such, most of the population is concentrated along the coast, with the vast interior very sparsely inhabited and home almost exclusively to nomadic Berber-speaking tribes. The Maghreb's three most populous cities are Algiers, Casablanca and Tunis, each located on the Mediterranean coast. With a population of approximately 45 million (just under half of the Maghreb's total population), Algeria is the region's most populous republic. Its least populous republic is Western Sahara, with about 3.5 million people.