The major demographic changes in the Middle East and North Africa have been the massive increase in population and urbanization which has seen the emergence of many large cities throughout the region. The reasons for this were better healthcare, greater mobility of the population, economic opportunities in cities and political changes. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a number of European families began moving to the Middle East and North Africa. , with many French and other Europeans settling in Algeria starting in the 1830s. Many Albanians moved to Egypt, and some Russian Orthodox communities also settled in the Holy Land. Even before the Suez Canal, there was considerable maritime traffic to and from Egypt. However, the opening of the canal in 1869 led to the massive expansion of Port Said, Ismailia, Port Suez and Aden. As increased shipping to the Middle East has led to a reduction in costs, there has been a considerable increase in pilgrims to the annual Hadj in Mecca. There was also an increase in European and American tourist traffic, particularly to Egypt and the Holy Land, leading to the founding of communities that lived off this trade. The emergence of the Young Turk movement, the decline of the Ottoman Empire and its defeat in World War I saw many changes in Asia Minor. Internal conflict with the Armenians during the war and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Greeks led to a dramatic change in the population of the nascent Republic of Türkiye. The move of the Turkish capital to Ankara in 1923 led to the displacement from the previous capital, Constantinople. During the Second World War, as during the First, the stationing of large numbers of soldiers in Egypt led to an economic boom.... .. middle of paper ......le. The port city of Aden had a population of around 45,000 until the 1940s, and by 1955 the population had risen to 139,600. The 1931 census for the Tunis Protectorate lists the population as 2,410,692, of which 195,293 were European. With the boom in Tunisia's tourism industry starting in the 1970s, many Europeans chose to settle in the country and by 2003 there were 100,000 Europeans, with the population having risen to 9,924,742. Works Cited Clarke, John I. and W. B. Fisher (eds.). Populations of the Middle East and North Africa: A geographical approach. London, 1972.Cooper, Charles A. and Sidney S. Alexander. Economic development and population growth in the Middle East. New York, 1971. Gilbar, Gad G. Population Dilemmas in the Middle East: Essays in Political Demography and Economics. London, 1997. Whittaker's Almanac. London, 1900 onwards.