ACOG - Syrian Arab Republic  - IBM

Geography

Location: Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey

Area:
total area: 185,180 sq km
land area: 184,050 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than North Dakota

Land boundaries: total 2,253 km, Iraq 605 km, Israel 76 km, Jordan 375 km, Lebanon 375km, Turkey 822 km

Coastline: 193 km


People

Population: 15,451,917 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 48% (female 3,639,776; male 3,826,154)
15-64 years: 49% (female 3,691,862; male 3,854,989)
65 years and over: 3% (female 219,251; male 219,885)

Population growth rate: 3.71% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 43.21 births/1,000 population

Death rate: 6.07 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 41.1 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 66.81 years
male: 65.67 years
female: 68.01 years

Total fertility rate: 6.55 children born/woman

Ethnic divisions: Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7%

Religions: Sunni Muslim 74%, Alawite, Druze, and other Muslim sects 16%, Christian (various sects) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)

Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French widely understood

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population: 64%
male: 78%
female: 51%


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Syrian Arab Republic
conventional short form: Syria

Type: republic under leftwing military regime since March 1963

Capital: Damascus

Independence: 17 April 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration)

Constitution: 13 March 1973


Economy

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $74.4 billion

National product real growth rate: 4%

National product per capita: $5,000

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 16.3%

Unemployment rate: 7.5%

Electricity:
capacity: 4,160,000 kW
production: 13.2 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 865 kWh



Olympic Factoid
The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts.