The lands ringing the Mediterranean Sea, spanning three continents: southern Europe, the Levant coast of Asia, and the Maghreb and Egyptian coast of North Africa. The region shares a mild wet-winter, dry-summer climate that supports olive, grape and grain agriculture across an otherwise politically and culturally varied coastline, and its enclosed sea has functioned as a connective corridor between its bordering landmasses since antiquity.
Facts
PopulationMedQSR (UNEP/MAP) states the population of the Mediterranean coastal regions, not the full population of the Mediterranean-bordering countries; the value recorded is the pages 2005 datapoint from its own stated growth series (about 100 million in 1980 to about 150 million in 2005). Disputed
Area (sq km)Mediterranean Basin biogeographic definition; this atlas region entity (the coastal lands of three continents) is narrower than the full basin and carries no single agreed total of its own. Connections
Adjacent To
Associated With
This source names Asia directly: "southern Europe, the Levant coast of Asia, and the Maghreb and Egyptian coast of North Africa."
Source National Geographic Atlas of the World
This source names The Mediterranean directly: "Indian Ocean in the south, and from the Mediterranean and Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east."
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Cairo, Cities This source names The Mediterranean directly: "the broad fan of waterways that reach the Mediterranean."
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
This source names The Mediterranean directly: "to the Sea of Marmara and, beyond it, the Mediterranean."
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
This source names North Africa directly: "and the Maghreb and Egyptian coast of North Africa."
Source National Geographic Atlas of the World
Rome, Cities This source names The Mediterranean directly: "Its inland but river-connected site gave it access to the Mediterranean without the direct exposure to seaborne raiding that a pure coastal position would carry, a siting logic that recurs across..."
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
This source names The Mediterranean directly: "Great Lakes region to a broad delta on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, formed by the union of the White Nile and Blue Nile at Khartoum in Sudan."
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Open Questions
Source Mediterranean Basin (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. The Mediterranean (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIntroductionQuote, Introduction
The Mediterranean Sea ( MED-ih-tə-RAY-nee-ən) is an intercontinental sea situated between Europe, Asia, and Africa.
2. Population and Development (MedQSR, UNEP/MAP)
UNEP/MAP (Mediterranean Action Plan)Population and Development page, coastal-regions growth statementQuote, Population and Development page, coastal-regions growth statement
The population of the coastal regions grew from about 100 million in 1980 to 150 million in 2005.
3. Mediterranean Basin (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFlora and fauna sectionQuote, Flora and fauna section
The Mediterranean basin has an area of 2,085,292 km2, of which only 98,009 km2 remains undisturbed.
National Geographic Atlas of the World
National Geographic Society, 2019
Open Questions (1 open question)
What is the total population of the Mediterranean region?
The atlas entity covers the lands ringing the Mediterranean Sea. The Wikipedia article on the Mediterranean basin consulted for this entity states plainly that the basin is not the same area as the sea's drainage basin and includes countries, such as Iraq, Jordan and Portugal, that a naive coastal count would miss, so no single population total was found that matches this atlas's own definition.
What would resolve this A reference that states population for the exact set of lands this atlas describes as ringing the Mediterranean (southern Europe, the Levant coast, the Maghreb and Egypt), not the sea's hydrological drainage basin.
Mediterranean Basin (Wikipedia)
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