Malta, an island country in Southern Europe whose national language also derives from Arabic (through Sicilian Arabic), is not included in the region. Similarly, Chad, Eritrea, and Israel recognize Arabic as one of their official or working languages but are not included in the region because they are not members of the Arab League (although Chad and Eritrea applied for full membership in 2014). The Arab world has a combined population of around 422 million inhabitants (as of 2012) and a gross domestic product of $2.782 trillion (2018).