Arabia - Fun Facts

What I was interested in learning about the Fun Facts of the Arabian Peninsula were:

1. Do kids my age there play video games?
2. What languages do they speak?
3. What kinds of cars do they drive?
4. What kinds of food do they eat?
5. What is the population of the countries on the Arabian Peninsula?


Video Games

I learned that video games are very popular with kids my age.  They have Sony Playstations, X-Box 360's and Nintendo Wii's.  I thought it was interesting that the war games were played from a different perspective.  The United States and it's western allies were the enemies in the war games for the kids in most of the countries.  Also, games like Grand Theft Auto are illegal in countries like Saudi Arabia, where they have strict Muslim laws.


Languages
Many languages are spoken, but the common language on the Arabian Peninsula is Arabic.  Languages spoken by country are as follows:  

Bahrain	Arabic	English	Farsi	Urdu
Kuwait	Arabic	English
Oman	Arabic	English	Baluchi	Urdu
Qatar	Arabic
Saudi Arabia	Arabic
UAE	Arabic	English	Persian	Hindi	Urdu
Yemen	Arabic

Cars
The number one import in most countries on the Arabian Peninsula is new and used automobiles.  They drive most of the car brands we are familiar with in the United States.

One major difference is that in countries like Saudi Arabia, women are forbidden to drive due to strict Muslim laws.


Food
Food common to most of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula consists of flat bread, rice, dates, fava beans, yogurt, chicken and lamb.  Vegetables are also very plentiful.  Each region has it's special and unique way of seasoning and cooking.  For instance, in Kuwait they use a famous cooking method called Tabeekh where everything is cooked together in a single container.

Population

The geographically largest country is Saudi Arabia and the geographically smallest country is Bahrain.  The populations of these two countries match the size of the countries:
(shown smallest to largest)

Bahrain         1,234,571 (2010)
Qatar            1,692,262 (2011)
Oman            2,694,094 (2010)
Kuwait          3-3.5 million       
                       (estimated)
UAE              4,975,593 (2010)
Yemen          23.4 million (2010)
Saudi Arabia  25,731,776 (2010)



Information obtained from:
www.globalvoicesonline.org
www.infoplease.org