31 January 2026 7:34 pm
10 positive economic outcomes for developing countries in 2025

10 positive economic outcomes for developing countries in 2025

Jan 7, 2026

Shutterstock/chaphot

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10 positive economic outcomes for developing countries in 2025

In BROOKINGS on January 6, 2026

  • From a growing global middle class to expanding trade and faster, market-driven clean energy adoption, 2025 delivered tangible progress for developing economies despite a difficult global backdrop.
  • Inflation and food price increases are being held in check, and advances in digital public infrastructure, nutrition, and weather forecasting improved everyday resilience for hundreds of millions of people.
  • These gains show that, even amid crisis, targeted investments and multilateral cooperation can still move the needle on sustainable development.

2025 was not a good year for emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). It saw a new normal emerge of a world with slow growth, trade wars, overwhelming debt service burdens, collapsing aid, global warming, natural disasters, and conflict.

Amid this litany of woes, it is easy to forget that there were also positive developments. In this commentary, I focus on areas of significant year-over-year progress in EMDEs. This progress may have been slower than potential, but it is nevertheless worth celebrating.

10 positive economic outcomes in EMDEs in 2025

  1. A growing middle class. In spite of slowing growth, about 108 million additional citizens in EMDEs were able to join the ranks of the middle class in 2025, according to data from the World Data Lab. (Disclosure: I am a co-founder of World Data Lab and its Chief Economist.) Most of these new entrants were in South and South East Asia, but Africa and Latin America also saw an increase in their middle-class populations. Globally, the middle class accounted for over half the world’s population for the first time ever.
  2. An expansion of trade. International trade grew strongly in 2025, notwithstanding tariff wars, protectionist measures, and onshoring policies. UNCTAD’s nowcast suggests that global trade in goods and services will exceed $35 trillion in 2025, a rise of 7% over 2024. East Asia’s growth led the way, but African exports also grew strongly—faster than China’s, for example. As one example, Africa led all regions with a 10% rise in tourist arrivals through the first three-quarters of the year. Overall, services growth and South-South trade were leading drivers for EMDE exports.
  3. Faster green energy transitions. In 2025, low-carbon energy transitions in EMDEs became driven by the private sector—utility-scale firms and individual households—responding to lower prices for solar cells and panels. Between August 2022 and August 2025, the average export price of Chinese cells fell from $0.19/W to $0.03/W. Previously, investments depended on government policy, incentives, and publicly mobilized financing. As Tim Appenzeller writes in Science magazine: “That change in motivation may be the most important breakthrough of all, ensuring that this year’s inflection points are just the beginning.”

The scale and speed of the energy transition are impressive. Globally, in the first half of 2025, renewables accounted for a higher share of electricity (34.3%) than coal (33.1%) for the first time ever. This trend was driven by EMDEs: The U.S. and Europe used more coal in 2025 as renewables did not keep pace with demand. China’s story is well-known, but India also added a record 29.5 GW of solar capacity in the first nine months of the year. Similarly, Pakistan has installed around 18GW of solar panels and is on track to produce 20% of its electricity from solar in 2026, compared to 1% in 2023. The focus on renewables spreads well beyond these examples. In Africa, 29 African governments launched National Energy Compacts in 2025 to accelerate energy access and security as part of the newly formed M300 initiative of the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

  1. Peaking global greenhouse gas emissions. It is still too early to tell, but it is possible that 2025 will mark the year when global greenhouse gas emissions flatten or decline. Climate TRACE, a non-profit coalition estimating real-time emissions, showed declining emissions in the early part of 2025 but now a very small increase of 55% in 2025 over 2024, perhaps because of data center use. The start of a downward global trend in emissions would be very good news for EMDEs. They bear the brunt of the natural disasters generated by climate change due to poor infrastructure, vulnerable populations, and reliance on agriculture. The World Resources Institute reckons the world is projected to warm by 2.3-2.9 °C; a dangerous prospect, and a far cry from the Paris 1.5 degree target, but roughly half of what was anticipated when the Paris Agreement was made a decade ago.
  2. Signs that multilateralism can still work. The reports of the death of multilateralism in 2025 were exaggerated. True, some events disappointed, notably the shelving of previously-agreed-upon maritime emissions levies, and the adjournment of talks on a global plastics pollution treaty, but there were examples of success in other areas. A High Seas treaty protecting biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions (BBNJ) was ratified and will legally enter into force in January 2026, providing an established process for marine protected areas and other matters. Both the World Bank and IMF successfully shored up support from their major shareholder, the United States. The International Finance Corporation launched an inaugural collateralized loan obligation, establishing a new class of assets in EMDEs with the potential to reach scale by tapping into global institutional investors.
  3. Business is still investing in sustainability. Despite reports to the contrary and a clear rollback in public policy requirements in the U.S. and Europe, business is still investing in sustainability. The green debt market surpassed $3 trillion in 2025 and, notwithstanding some slowdowns in the U.S. and Europe, issuances in the Asia Pacific region have strongly trended upward. Cost reductions and revenue growth drive corporate sustainability efforts, and there was solid growth in assets and returns in ESG funds in 2025, with particular interest from younger investors.
  4. Inflation and food price increases are being held in check. While negative news on inflation dominated headlines in several advanced economies, EMDE inflation in 2025 was the lowest since the IMF began its tracking in 2016. While there are regional differences, 12-month trailing inflation in Africa is ending the year at half its 2024 level. Some of this is attributable to low prices for traded foodstuffs. The FAO’s commodity price index shows declines in 2025 of the nominal international prices of cereals, dairy, and sugar.
  5. Going digital. After a slow start in building digital infrastructure backbones, developing countries are catching up to the rest of the world. According to the 2025 State of Digital Public Infrastructure report, as of 2025, at least 64 countries (including advanced economies) have DPI-like digital ID systems, 97 countries have DPI-like digital payment systems, and 103 countries have DPI-like data exchange systems, with many more in the planned or piloting stage. According to the same report, “Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and the Caribbean have the most dynamic and rapidly evolving picture for deployments …”
  6. Better nutrition. School meals have long been recognized as highly impactful for nutrition, learning, and overall child well-being. The latest State of School Feeding Worldwide report, released in 2025, finds that 466 million children worldwide receive school meals, with almost half of all primary school children covered. 60% more children are being reached in low-income countries compared to two years ago. Almost all the funding is from national government budgets, suggesting that school meals might escape the effects of the sharp aid reductions of 2025.
  7. More useful weather forecasting. The Extraordinary World Meteorological Congress in October 2025 reported on its shift to go beyond assessing “what the weather will be” to “what the weather will do to lives, infrastructure and livelihoods,” by integrating AI into its operational forecasts. The Early Warnings for All initiative, aimed at providing coverage of multi-hazard forecasts to all people by 2027, had an “unprecedented pace of progress” in 2025, with new pilots and capacity-building projects aimed at developing countries.

All is not well for people living in developing countries. But 2025 did see progress, at considerable scale, in a range of areas. Sustainable development practitioners should celebrate the positives while continuing to advocate for faster progress.

Author

Homi Kharas
Homi KharasSenior Fellow – Global Economy and Development, Center for Sustainable Development
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With Chinese investment, Egypt turns to Solar Panel Manufacturing

With Chinese investment, Egypt turns to Solar Panel Manufacturing

Jan 7, 2026

Benban Solar Farm, courtesy Ecohz
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Vietnam on the Nile? With Chinese investment, Egypt turns to Solar Panel Manufacturing

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Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new $210 million facility is being built in Egypt to produce 4 gigwatts of solar components annually.

These numbers are not world shaking, but this development is. Egypt has enormous industrial potential. It has as many as 2.5 million workers in various sectors of the textile industry and 33 million over all, and the country’s literacy rate is now on the order of 75%. Literate workers are valuable because they are able to read and follow instructions.

If Egypt becomes a hub for producing solar cells, panels and arrays, it could be an engine for economic growth and also for the production of inexpensive energy in the country, which also acts as a fillip to economic growth.

Green Building Africa reports that “The $210 million Atum Solar project is being developed in the TEDA industrial zone in Sokhna and will have an annual production capacity of 2 GW of solar cells and 2 GW of solar modules.” The investors include JA Solar, a Chinese solar panel manufacturer, as well as concerns in the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt itself. The UAE and Bahrain have substantial investment capital lying about from oil sales, but small domestic populations and lack what economists call absorptive capacity. Egypt is a promising investment field for them as a fellow Arab country with a big workforce.

The plant will create over 800 direct jobs, and likely many more indirect ones.

The solar cells will be exported to the United States. Note that this facility is a way for JA Solar to sidestep the stiff US tariffs on Chinese solar cells, since the units will come from Egypt. The panels will be sold inside Egypt and also to other African countries.

The energy consultancy Ember reported last summer that there are now the first signs of large-scale African adoption of solar panels.

I commented about a year ago on a report that Sweden’s Sunshine Pro has partnered with Egyptian institutions to establish a solar panel manufacturing facility with a capacity to produce 1 gigawatt of solar panels annually.

Egypt is, of course, creating large solar farms for electricity generation, and so will have a use for these domestically produced panels. By the start of 2024, the Egyptians had installed 1.8 gigawatts of solar, most of it at the Benban Solar Park some 400 miles south of Cairo in the Aswan Governorate. It now, at the beginning of 2026, has about 2.8 gigawatts of solar capacity, with plans for a rapid build out the rest of this year. Cairo is hoping for 12 gigawatts of sustainables by the end of 2026.

As Chinese labor costs have risen, Chinese companies have been moving to other countries for some manufacturing purposes, benefiting from their cheaper labor costs. It is even government policy, with the slogan “Go out!” attached to it. Since China is the preeminent leader in greentech, it is natural that some of the expansion of Chinese investments in factories abroad would be in sustainables.

One advantage for Chinese firms of investing in a facility abroad is that they can often lower their tariff costs. For instance, the African Union has low tariffs for member states, so a factory that is partially Chinese-owned established in an African country can export cheaply throughout the continent. That role seems to be envisioned for the panels produced at the Atum plant, while the solar cells (the basic component of the panels) will be sent to the US.

If Egyptians manage their affairs well, they could become the Vietnam of the Middle East with regard to solar panel production. Vietnam now produces 18 gigawatts of solar panels annually and is the fourth-largest panel exporter, having 12% of the world market, up from almost nothing a decade ago.

Can developing countries leapfrog fossil fuels?

Can developing countries leapfrog fossil fuels?

Jan 6, 2026

MENA-Forum proposed illustrative image:  Street scene showing makeshift homes near solar panels in Vadodara, India.  By Chris John via Pexels

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Can developing countries leapfrog fossil fuels?

Beatrice Christofaro
DW https://p.dw.com/p/55iJo
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Rich nations built their wealth on coal, oil and gas. Now the world is asking poorer countries like Mozambique to chart a different course.

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Mozambique is at a crossroads. On its northern coast, billions of dollars’ worth of offshore gas projects could bring significant new revenue. At the same time, the country is a hydro powerhouse with huge untapped solar and wind potential.

“These are some of the most interesting cases because there are no sunk costs yet. You could still go in different directions,” said Philipp Trotter, professor in sustainability management at the University of Wuppertal in Germany.

As global pressure mounts to move away from new fossil fuel development, the dilemma sharpens a long-running debate: Must poorer countries burn fossil fuels to prosper, or can they leapfrog straight to clean energy?

More profit from fossil fuels?

For decades, industrialized nations built their wealth on burning coal, oil and gas, producing a disproportionately large share of global emissions in the process. Historically, the United States, the European Union and China have been the world’s largest polluters, according to the Global Carbon Budget.

Many energy leaders in Africa and Asia argue it is unfair to deny today’s developing economies the same route to growth. But with greenhouse gas emissions at a record high and warming accelerating, climate scientists warn that the planet no longer has the carbon budget for everyone to follow that path.

“From a moral perspective, it makes total sense that if anyone can use fossil fuels, it should be the poorest countries,” said Trotter. “The problem with that argument is it misses the economic side of things.”

Two technicians walk in front of solar panels in Bokhol, Senegal
Senegal is at a crossroads. Does it focus on renewables or fossil fuel development? Image: Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images

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There is limited research on what path would be more profitable for countries at a crossroads, like Mozambique, Senegal or Mauritania.

That means it remains uncertain whether Mozambique’s gas will still be as competitive in world markets by the time it’s been developed years down the line. After all, major economies are aiming to drastically cut their emissions by 2050 — and analysts say demand for gas, coal and oil could peak this decade.

“So, you’re kind of investing a lot of money without a competitive advantage in a market that’s decreasing,” Trotter said. “It could work out. It could also have extreme risk.”

Kenya: A renewable powerhouse

On paper, the economics of renewables have shifted decisively. More than 90% of new clean power projects worldwide produce electricity at a lower cost than new fossil fuel plants, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

But low operating costs do not tell the whole story.

Building green systems still requires heavy upfront investment — for wind farms, solar parks, grids, storage and backup capacity. These costs are often harder for developing nations to shoulder.

A plume of steam billows from a three-kilometres deep open well, at the ol-Karia geothermal power generation complex that lies on the floor of the Kenyan Rift Valley
Kenya is a geothermal powerhouse Image: Tony Karumba/AFP

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One place where that gamble has paid off is Kenya. The country generates almost 90% of its electricity from renewables, mostly geothermal, hydro and wind power. And it aims to reach 100% with universal access by 2030.

“Kenya has abundant geothermal energy, which is like a golden egg,” said Rose M. Mutiso, a Kenyan scientist and energy expert. “But obviously the country has done a lot to develop these resources over time.”

The Kenyan government began investing heavily in this “golden egg” in the 1990s and early 2000s after droughts exposed the risks of relying too heavily on hydropower. Through the state-owned Geothermal Development Company, the country used public money and development-bank loans to cover the risky early stages of tapping underground heat before private investors stepped in.

“This is not an overnight journey. This is a long, sustained process,” Mutiso added.

But parts of this model could be difficult for countries like Mozambique or Senegal to replicate. Highly indebted with lower credit scores than Kenya, they might have a harder time attracting payable loans.

Different approaches for different countries

What this highlights is that one size does not fit all when it comes to energy transitions.

Researchers have found that the pathway a country can take depends on several factors: how fossil fuels are currently woven into its economy, whether they are mainly used at home or exported, and how diversified the rest of the economy already is.

That alone shows why it makes little sense to compare a country like Ethiopia, which largely electrified through cheap hydropower thanks to its river resources, with India, which depends on coal for most of its electricity and employs millions of people across this supply chain.

How coal mining is displacing millions

 

                A video on true cost of coal mining can be visualised on DW https://p.dw.com/p/55iJo
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In India, falling wind and solar prices have actually helped drive an ambitious renewable energy program. The country ranks fourth worldwide in installed renewable power capacity.

But coal still accounts for more than 70% of its power generation. It employs relatively few people nationwide but remains the only economic activity in some districts. At the same time, energy demand is rising rapidly as industry expands and living standards improve.

That means the country is trying to manage a green and just transition while electricity consumption is climbing.

“You’re asking it to do double duty. That’s not as easy on an accelerated time frame,” said Rahul Tongia, a senior fellow with CSEP, a public policy think tank in New Delhi.

More money from richer nations

Though developing countries face very different realities, there are some clear ways wealthier nations could help them speed up the shift to renewables.

At the top of the list is tackling one of the biggest barriers: the steep upfront cost.

“Developed countries and high emitters need to keep the accelerator pressed because their deployment of new technologies is what brings learning-curve costs down for poorer countries,” said Tongia. “So let them pay the premium for new technologies.”

Solar panels behind a beach in the Philippines
Experts say the cost of capital needs to drop so developing nations can continue building out renewable infrastructure Image: Chantal Eco/DW

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Poorer countries and climate experts have also long argued that far more public climate finance is needed to unlock private investment. Without guarantees and risk-sharing, many clean energy projects remain too risky for banks.

“You have to make capital accessible, but you also need guarantees that lower the perceived risk,” said Trotter. “This is where developed countries can act.”

At the UN climate talks in 2024, governments agreed on a new climate finance goal of at least US$300 billion (about € 256 billion) per year by 2035, a figure many developing nations say still falls short of what is needed.

For Mozambique, that shortfall could be decisive. Gas rigs promise one future, while sun and wind point to another. Which path the country ultimately takes may depend on whether wealthy nations are willing to invest in a cleaner future.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

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The world’s largest rooftop solar installation

The world’s largest rooftop solar installation

Jan 5, 2026

Bahrain, Manama, Bahrain World Trade Center, WTC, Bahrain by IrinaKar via pixabay

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Bahrain announces plans for what will become the world’s largest rooftop solar installation

by Warren
 January 3, 2026
in Solar
India's newest solar plus storage project advances

The evidence would suggest that a myriad of energy-rich nations in the Middle East are fostering investments in astonishing new renewable energy projects amid calls to diversify the global energy market. One such nation that has expressed its renewable energy ambitions is Bahrain. The Gulf nation has recently announced its plans to construct and operate what will be the world’s largest rooftop solar installation, marking a new future for the Middle East energy market that aligns with global emission and clean energy goals.

Even the Middle East has jumped on board the renewable energy train

The litany of Middle East nations are turning to the untapped and up until now, overlooked energy generation potential of the renewable energy market, following decades of relying on the conventional oil and gas sectors. The region has seen vast resources of oil and gas transforming nations into oil-dependent countries that have seen insane economic growth over the past few decades.

At the recent G20 Summit in South Africa, nearly every nation in attendance reaffirmed its commitment to reducing emissions and developing clean energy projects in the years to come. Following announcements of renewable energy projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, such as the world-changing NEOM project, Bahrain is aiming to become the home of the regional solar sector with an astonishing new project that will reshape the global energy market.

Bahrain’s new rooftop solar installation will be the largest in the world

Foulath Holding, the parent company of Bahrain Steel and SULB, has announced a new partnership with Yellow Door Energy, the leading sustainable energy developer in the Middle East and Africa, to develop a new 123-Megawatt-Peak (MWp) solar project in Bahrain, setting the stage for a new future in the nation, powered by solar power.

“Today, the island nation of Bahrain stands at the forefront of sustainable global innovation. We are incredibly proud of this transformative project – marking the largest rooftop solar plant in the world. This milestone not only strengthens our position as a regional leader in clean energy, but embodies our dedication to build a resilience, sustainable future in line with our national vision of elevating Bahrain’s international competitiveness.” – H.E. Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif, Minister of Sustainable Development, Chief Executive of Bahrain EDB

Bahrain’s new solar installation will be a landmark achievement for the global renewable sector

The project will consist of 77,000 solar panels installed across a new 262,000-square-meter stockyard shed. This would be the largest industrial-scale on-site solar project in the world, boasting ten rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) plants and four ground-mounted solar PV installations set to reshape the nation’s steel industry for the better.

The project aims to generate an astonishing 200 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean energy in its first year of operation and will benefit from a new Power Purchasing Agreement, which has become a prerequisite for new energy projects across the renewable energy biosphere. Yellow Door Energy will oversee financing, construction, and maintenance operations for the new solar project.

The clean energy transition has reached every corner of the world

Bahrain’s ambition to develop what will be the world’s largest solar rooftop installation comes as the market sees substantial growth, underscoring nations’ clean energy targets for the new year and further beyond. Turkey’s clean energy ambitions have been boosted by the news that AIIB and TSKB will fund a new solar project in the nation, exemplifying global sentiments toward the renewable energy market. The world has been forced to face the reality that the only constant is change; thankfully, the Middle East region is aiming to lead the transition to the renewable energy sector through astonishing new projects.

Warren
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New year as a time for unity, hospitality, and hope in the MENA

New year as a time for unity, hospitality, and hope in the MENA

Jan 3, 2026

Heartwarming scene of children playing in a refugee camp in Idlib, Syria. By Ahmed akacha via Pexels

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New year as a time for unity, hospitality, and hope in the MENA region

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Avatar photo
By Suraiyya Aziz
In Blitz, Saturday, January 3, 2026
Middle East, Middle East and North Africa, Arab world, New Year celebrations, MENA, MENA, Dammam, Jeddah, North Africa, Gulf states, Riyadh, Christian communities

As 2025 gave way to 2026, millions of people across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the wider Arab world marked the transition into a new calendar year in diverse and meaningful ways. While the Gregorian New Year does not carry universal religious significance across the region, its arrival has increasingly become a shared cultural moment – one that offers space for reflection, connection, and collective hope. Against a backdrop of conflict, political uncertainty, economic hardship, and humanitarian challenges, the welcoming of 2026 carried a deeper resonance than mere celebration. It became, for many, a quiet yet powerful affirmation of life, resilience, and social cohesion.

The transition into the new year unfolded amid a complex historical and political context. Throughout 2025, large parts of the region continued to grapple with armed conflicts, displacement, inflation, and fragile governance. From protracted wars and unresolved crises to the everyday pressures of rising costs of living and unemployment, many communities entered 2026 bearing heavy burdens. Yet, despite these realities, the arrival of the new year once again brought people together, offering a symbolic pause – a collective breath – and the opportunity to imagine a more peaceful future.

Importantly, New Year celebrations in the MENA region should not be viewed as a uniform or monolithic phenomenon. On the contrary, they reflect the region’s extraordinary cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity. The Middle East and North Africa are home to civilizations that span millennia, shaped by layers of faith, language, and tradition. As such, the way the new year is observed varies widely between countries, cities, and communities, ranging from large-scale public festivities to intimate family gatherings and moments of personal reflection.

While the Gregorian calendar’s New Year is not a religious observance in Islam, it has gradually evolved into a social and cultural occasion across much of the Arab and Islamic worlds, particularly in urban centers. For many, it represents a symbolic threshold – a chance to leave behind a difficult year and renew hopes for peace, stability, and dignity in the months ahead. This symbolic meaning has become especially important in societies where uncertainty has become a defining feature of daily life.

In several parts of the Arab world, particularly in the Gulf states, New Year celebrations have taken on a distinctly public, open, and communal character. Major cities have emerged as global destinations for festivities, combining modern urban spectacle with deeply rooted traditions of hospitality. Fireworks displays, public concerts, cultural performances, and family-oriented events have become common features, signaling the expansion of public spaces dedicated to entertainment and social interaction.

Saudi Arabia provides a notable example of this evolving approach. Although the New Year is not an official religious or national holiday in the Kingdom, recent years have seen it embraced as a cultural and social moment that welcomes both residents and international visitors. Through broader national entertainment frameworks – most prominently Riyadh Season – New Year’s Eve has been integrated into multi-day celebrations across various venues. These events combine large-scale public spectacles with family-friendly attractions, international sports competitions, concerts, and immersive cultural experiences.

In Riyadh, areas such as Boulevard City have become focal points for light shows, live performances, diverse culinary offerings, and midnight fireworks. Coastal cities like Jeddah and Dammam, meanwhile, host open and accessible celebrations along their corniches, blending music, public gatherings, and waterfront displays. These developments reflect not only changing social norms but also a broader effort to create inclusive urban environments where people from different backgrounds can gather peacefully.

Similarly, in the United Arab Emirates, New Year celebrations have evolved into extended cultural experiences rather than single-night events. Dubai, in particular, has reimagined the occasion as a multi-day festival stretching across more than a week. Central districts transform into immersive public arenas featuring large-scale visual displays, performances, and communal activities. In this context, the New Year is no longer viewed as a fleeting moment but as a continuous, shared experience that emphasizes participation and togetherness.

Beyond the Gulf, New Year practices across North Africa and the Levant often blend global customs with local traditions and sensibilities. In countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, the New Year is commonly observed through family gatherings, shared meals, music, and quiet time spent together. While celebrations in these societies may appear less spectacular on the surface, they often carry deep emotional and social significance.

In communities affected by political instability or economic hardship, the New Year becomes a symbol of collective endurance and survival. Social events, however modest, aim to strengthen family ties, reconnect with friends, and express gratitude for having endured another difficult year. In such contexts, celebration is not an act of excess but an assertion of humanity – a reminder that joy and solidarity can persist even in the most challenging circumstances.

Religious diversity across the MENA region further enriches the meaning of the New Year. Christian communities, present across the Levant, Egypt, Iraq, and parts of North Africa, often mark the occasion within a broader season of religious celebration and spiritual reflection. For these communities, the transition into a new calendar year carries emotional and symbolic weight, intertwined with themes of renewal, faith, and hope. Their visible participation in public and private celebrations underscores the region’s long-standing pluralism and shared cultural heritage.

Ethnic and cultural minorities also engage with the New Year in ways that reinforce social cohesion. Kurdish communities in parts of the Levant, for example, may prioritize their own traditional calendars and seasonal festivals, such as Nowruz, while still recognizing the Gregorian New Year as an additional moment of connection. Rather than undermining cultural identity, this layered approach to time and celebration highlights the region’s ability to accommodate multiple traditions within a shared social space.

Crucially, the arrival of 2026 comes at a moment marked by a widespread desire for peace, stability, and dignity across the region. In this sense, New Year celebrations can be seen as a quiet refusal to allow conflict and division to define the entirety of social life in the Middle East and North Africa. Hospitality, friendship, and cultural expression remain central to the region’s identity, even amid turmoil.

Across borders, religions, and cultures, people welcomed the new year through public festivities, family gatherings, or moments of quiet reflection. Even in societies where the Gregorian calendar is not formally recognized, the welcoming of visitors and the accommodation of diverse forms of celebration reflect deeply rooted values of generosity, inclusion, and coexistence. These shared practices point to a unique regional characteristic: a form of cohesion that transcends political boundaries and religious calendars, shaped by centuries of communal life and cultural exchange.

In this light, New Year celebrations in the MENA region are not merely modern social practices imported from elsewhere. They are expressions of long-standing commitments to community, pluralism, and peaceful coexistence. They reaffirm that, despite conflict and hardship, the region’s societies continue to value human connection and collective hope.

As 2026 begins, there is a shared wish that the coming year will bring an end to cycles of violence, greater respect for human life and dignity, and a renewed commitment to dialogue and peace. May this year be one in which forgiveness, prosperity, joy, and friendship replace confrontation and division – and may the rich and extraordinary cultures of the Middle East and the Arab world continue to flourish in peace.

Please follow Blitz on Google News Channel

Suraiyya Aziz specialises in topics related to the Middle East and the Arab world

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