It's fairly well known at this point, but there is a significant demographic problem facing the autocratic rulers of many Arab nations. The following numbers, taken from the CIA World Factbook, are the proportion of each state's population that is below the age of 15:
Jordan - 35.3%
Libya - 32.8%
Morocco - 27.8%
Saudi Arabia - 29.4%
Syria - 35.2%
Oman - 31.2%
Yemen - 43%
To compare, here are the numbers for some Western nations:
Canada - 15.7%
France - 18.5%
Germany - 13.3%
Spain - 15.1%
United States - 20.1%
In most of these countries, the youth population is male majority. In most of these countries, unemployment is extremely high. Having a lot of young, restless, unemployed men hanging around doesn't make it easy to run an authoritarian government.
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