Syrian Arab Republic

Capital: Damascus

Total Area: 71,498 sq mi,185,180.00 sq km,(slightly larger than North Dakota)

Population: 16,728,808 (July 2001 est.), note: in addition, there are about 38,200 people living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - 18,200 Arabs (16,500 Druze and 1,700 Alawites) and about 20,000 Israeli settlers

Estimated Population in 2050: 34,437,235

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

Literacy: 70.8% total, 85.7% male, 55.8% female (1997 est.)

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

Life Expectancy: 67.63 male, 69.98 female (2001 est.)

Government Type: republic under military regime since March 1963

Currency: 1 Syrian pound = 100 piastres

GDP (per capita): $3,100 (2000 est.)

Industry: petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining

Agriculture: wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk

Arable Land: 28%

Natural Resources: petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydropower

Where is Syria?