Population: Syria’s population was estimated at 18.2 million in July 2003 and was growing at an estimated rate of 2.4 percent in 2004. The annual growth rate from 1990–2002 was 2.6 percent. About 52 percent of the population was urban as of 2002, with a growth rate of 3.1 percent. Syria is one of the most densely populated countries in the Middle East (57 people per square kilometer in 1986 and about 363 per square kilometer in 2004), but there are significant regional variations. The population is concentrated along the coast in the west, in the south around Damascus, and in the Euphrates River Valley in the northeast. More than 400,000 Palestinian refugees are believed to reside in Syria. In addition, Syria has some 170,000 internally displaced people, mostly from the Golan Heights. An estimated 40,000 people remain in the Golan Heights, including about 20,000 Arabs and 20,000 Israeli settlers. In early 2005, news reports indicated that Syria had been “overwhelmed” by the influx of more than 700,000 Iraqis since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Demography: According to 2004 estimates, about 38 percent of Syrians are less than 15 years of age, 58.7 percent are 15–64 years of age, and 3.3 percent are 65 and older. The median age is 20 (19.9 for males and 20.2 for females). The sex ratio for the total population is 1.06 males per female. The birthrate in 2004 was estimated at 28.9 births per 1,000 and the total fertility rate at 3.6 children born per woman. The death rate in 2004 was estimated at nearly 5 deaths per 1,000. Estimated life expectancy at birth was 69.7 years for the total population (68.5 for males and 71.0 for females). According to UNICEF, the infant mortality rate for 2002 was 23 per 1,000, significantly down from the rate of 136 per 1,000 in 1960, but the U.S. government estimated the infant mortality rate at 30.6 per 1,000 in 2004.

Ethnic Group(s): Approximately 90 percent of Syrians are Arabs, and about 9 percent are Kurds. Armenians, Circassians, and Turkomans make up the remaining 1 percent of the population.

Languages: Arabic is the official language and mother tongue of about 90 percent of the population. Minority languages include Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, and Circassian. Both English and French are widely understood, especially by educated elites in major urban areas.

Religion: The majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, comprising 74 percent of the population. Minority religious groups include Alawis, a heterodox Shia Muslim sect (12 percent); Christians (10 percent); Druze, a religious group located in southern Syria whose beliefs contain elements of Shia Islam, Christianity, and paganism (3 percent); and small numbers of other Muslim sects, Jews (who have tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo), and Yazidis (a small religious group whose religion contains elements of Islam, Judaism, and Christainity).

Education and Literacy: Despite being a low-income country with a growing population, Syria has a good basic education system. The Baath Party promotes the idea that education is one of the foundations of economic development. Syria’s literacy rate of 60 percent for men and 50 percent for women, according to one estimate, is higher than Egypt’s but lower than that of Jordan or Lebanon. Other sources cite a literacy rate of 76.9 percent total, 89.7 percent for men and 64 percent for women, in 2003. Most education is state provided, but legislation passed in 2001 allows the establishment of some private schools and colleges. Resources for education have risen in absolute terms over the past decade, but it is difficult to match the rate of population growth. Showing an increase over 2002 spending, 8.6 percent of the state budget was earmarked for education in 2003.

Six years of primary school for children ages 6–11 are free and compulsory, and enrollment is near 100 percent for both boys and girls. At the secondary level, the education system also includes three years of general or vocational education followed by three years of academic or vocational education. However, classes are large and facilities poor at all levels. Domestic policies emphasize engineering and medicine in Syria’s four universities, with less emphasis on the arts, law, and business. In September 2002, the president founded the country’s first virtual university through which students can obtain degrees from U.S. institutions. This measure and others, such as making computer literacy mandatory at the high-school level and English- and French-language instruction compulsory in the elementary schools, have the goal of equipping students with computer and language skills in order to modernize the economy through the education system.

Health: The Baath Party has placed an emphasis on health care, but funding levels have not been able to keep up with demand or maintain quality. Health expenditures reportedly accounted for 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2001. Syria’s health system is relatively decentralized and focuses on offering primary health care at three levels: village, district, and provincial. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1990 Syria had 41 general hospitals (33 public, 8 private), 152 specialized hospitals (16 public, 136 private), 391 rural health centers, 151 urban health centers, 79 rural health units, and 49 specialized health centers; hospital beds totaled 13,164 (77 percent public, 23 percent private), or 11 beds per 10,000 inhabitants. The number of state hospital beds reportedly fell between 1995 and 2001, while the population had an 18 percent increase, but the opening of new hospitals in 2002 caused the number of hospital beds to double. WHO reported that in 1989 Syria had a total of 10,114 physicians, 3,362 dentists, and 14,816 nurses and midwives; in 1995 the rate of health professionals per 10,000 inhabitants was 10.9 physicians, 5.6 dentists, and 21.2 nurses and midwives. Despite overall improvements, Syria’s health system exhibits significant regional disparities in the availability of health care, especially between urban and rural areas. The number of private hospitals and doctors increased by 41 percent between 1995 and 2001 as a result of growing demand and growing wealth in a small sector of society. Almost all private health facilities are located in large urban areas such as Damascus, Aleppo, Tartus, and Latakia.

Key health indicators in Syria show that infectious diseases and illnesses related to environmental pollution remain serious problems. The rate of prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in 2001 was 0.01 percent. About 80 percent of Syrians had access to water in 2000 and 90 percent to sanitation.

Welfare: Syria’s socialist government provides extensive social services to citizens at nominal cost. Most welfare programs are administered by the ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, which also controls labor unions, sets the minimum wage, regulates safety, pays social security, and operates orphanages, institutions for the handicapped, and rural community development centers. Many citizens have access to subsidized public housing, and many basic commodities are heavily subsidized.

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This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant.