The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia, Turkey, and Egypt. Saudi Arabia is geographically the largest Middle Eastern nation while Bahrain is the smallest.

The region comprising the Middle East is located in the western portion of the Asian continent, known as Western Asia. It has a territorial extension of more than 6.8 million square kilometers, with an estimated population of 260 million inhabitants. It is composed of 15 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Turkey.