Syria 
Facts
Population: 19,314,747
note: in addition, about 40,000 people live in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - 20,000 Arabs (18,000 Druze and 2,000 Alawites) and about 20,000 Israeli settlers (July 2007 est.).
Age structure: 0-14 years: 36.5% (male 3,633,562/female 3,423,435)
15-64 years: 60.1% (male 5,952,275/female 5,664,236)
65 years and over: 3.3% (male 303,346/female 337,893) (2007 est.).
Population growth rate: 2.244% (2007 est.).
Birth rate: 27.19 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Death rate: 4.74 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.061 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.051 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.898 male(s)/female
total population: 1.049 male(s)/female (2007 est.).
Infant mortality rate: total: 27.7 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 27.94 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 27.44 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.).
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 70.61 years
male: 69.27 years
female: 72.02 years (2007 est.).
Total fertility rate: 3.31 children born/woman (2007 est.).
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.).
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: less than 500 (2003 est.).
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.).
Nationality: noun: Syrian(s)
adjective: Syrian.
Ethnic groups: Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7%.
Religions: Sunni Muslim 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo).
Languages: Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood.
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 79.6%
male: 86%
female: 73.6% (2004 census).
GDP (purchasing power parity): $77.66 billion (2006 est.).
GDP - real growth rate: 3.5% (2006 est.).
GDP - per capita (PPP): $4,100 (2006 est.).
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 24%
industry: 18%
services: 58% (2005 est.).
Labor force: 5.505 million (2006 est.).
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 26%
industry: 14%
services: 60% (2003 est.).
Population below poverty line: 11.9% (2006 est.).
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%.
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8% (2006 est.).
Unemployment rate: 12.5% (2005 est.).
Budget: revenues: $8.7 billion
expenditures: $9.9 billion; including capital expenditures of $3.82 billion (2006 est.).
Agriculture - products: wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk.
Industries: petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, oil seeds crushing.
Industrial production growth rate: 1.5% (2005).
Electricity - production: 34.94 billion kWh (2005 est.).
Electricity - consumption: 34 billion kWh (2005 est.).
Electricity - exports: 0.2 kWh (2005).
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2005).
Exports: $6.923 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Exports - commodities: crude oil, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat.
Exports - partners: Iraq 26.3%, Italy 10%, Germany 9.9%, Lebanon 9.1%, Egypt 5.1%, France 4.9%, Saudi Arabia 4.6% (2005).
Imports: $6.634 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, electric power machinery, food and livestock, metal and metal products, chemicals and chemical products, plastics, yarn, paper.
Imports - partners: Saudi Arabia 11.6%, China 6.1%, Egypt 5.9%, Italy 5.8%, UAE 5.7%, Ukraine 4.6%, Germany 4.5%, Iran 4.2% (2005).
Debt - external: $8.355 billion; note - excludes military debt and debt to Russia (2006 est.).
Economic aid - recipient: $180 million (2002 est.).
Currency (code): Syrian pound (SYP).
Exchange rates: Syrian pounds per US dollar - 51.689 (2006), 50 (2005), 48.5 (2004), 52.8 (2003), 52.4 (2002)
note: data for 2004-06 are the public sector rate; data for 2002-03 are the parallel market rate in 'Amman and Beirut; the official rate for repaying loans was 11.25 Syrian pounds per US dollars during 2004-06,.
Fiscal year: calendar year.
Statistics: C.I.A. World Factbook. Updated: July 20, 2007.
Press
(Organ of the Arab Socialist Party), Damascus
http://www.albaath.com/
Al-Fida'
(Government-controlled weekly), Hama
Al-Jamahir
(Government-controlled), Halab
(Government-controlled), Damascus
http://www.thawra.com
(Government-owned, English-language), Damascus
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes
(Newsletter Magazine), Damascus
http://www.syria-today.com/
(Semi-official), Damascus
http://www.teshreen.com/
Syria in the News
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Displaying 17 to 20 of 28 items.
Early on Sunday, Oct. 5, Israel bombed what it said was a terrorist training camp in Syria. Two days later, London’s pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper ran a broad-ranging interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as its top story. The original interview ran from the front page to two full broadsheet pages. We present an abridged translation.
Mamoun Fandy, writing for the Egyptian government's flagship daily Al-Ahram, offers his interpretation of what lies behind the U.S. threats against Syria.
Comment and analysis from 27 newspapers in Frankfurt, London, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Dubai, Riyadh, Jidda, Doha, Johannesburg, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Karachi, Oslo, Moscow, Milan, Toronto, Beijing, Islamabad, New Delhi, and Auckland
Fahmy Howeidy of Cairo's Al-Ahram warns that Washington means what it says about reshaping the Middle East.
Americas 
