They didn't just drop a zero. They based their reasoning on that number, the next sentence suggests it's like the population of Kuwait (~4.5M). No, it's more like California:
I agree that the assertion was at the beginning of the article, but I don't think the remainder of the article is predicated on this claim. In other words: I don't think the order of magnitude invalidates the rest of their argument.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/states/california-populati...
Or Canada. Or Iraq, to stay in the Middle East.