Syria - geography
Syria stretches from a 100 km long Mediterranean coast to steppe and desert
areas to the east and southeast. Large parts of the arid areas are uninhabited
or very sparsely populated, while 80% of the population lives in the western
fifth of the country, primarily in and between the two major cities
of Damascus and Aleppo. The area is hilly with mountain ranges that run
north-south, Antillibanon on the border with Lebanon (Mount Hermon, 2814
m). Most of the country's scarce water resources are found here, and the
landscape alternates between arable land, grass slopes and forests. To the east,
precipitation decreases, and to the SE lies the Syrian Desert, which extends
into Jordan and Iraq and continues on the Arabian Peninsula. North of this runs
the Euphrates300 km through the central steppe area; the river enables the
cultivation of the Euphrates Valley. East of Aleppo, the river is dammed and
forms the large Assadsø with hydropower plants.
The Golan Heights furthest to the SW have been occupied by Israel since 1967,
which annexed the area in 1981. From the Golan, one can militarily master
strategically important areas and water resources, and the future of the Golan
is one of the most important elements in the negotiations for a peace agreement
in the region.
The climate varies greatly in Syria. The coastal area north of Lebanon has a
Mediterranean climate with sunny summers and cool, humid winters. To the east it
is more continental and dry; on the grasslands the summers are very hot, often
with temperatures above 40 °C, while night frosts are frequent in the
winter. Damascus regularly experiences snowfall, but the snow does not stay
long.
Industries
In the late 1900-t. Syrian industry and service activities underwent a
gradual liberalization, which to some extent seems to have worked as
intended. In 1997-99, the country had an economic growth of 3-4% per year,
which, however, linked to rising oil prices. But Syria remains a country
with significant problems, first and foremost widespread poverty. Two thirds of
the Syrian workers earn less than DKK 500 a month, and most public employees
must have two jobs to maintain a tolerable standard of living. In this
perspective, liberalisations that are perceived by ordinary Syrians as a decline
in real wages mean a continuing critical situation for the poor. One consequence
is that many take work abroad or emigrate for a shorter or longer period of
time. Syrian statistics are deficient, not least in this area, but it is
estimated that that it is about 1 million. people. In the short term, the
foreign economy will be strengthened by the sums that migrant workers send home
from abroad, but the basic structural problems will not be solved.
Syria's oil production is only 2-3 times larger than Denmark's, and so are
the reserves, and the country is forced to develop a broad-spectrum
economy. Among other things. focus on chemicals, textiles and agricultural
products such as citrus fruits and olive oil; for the latter two, sales on the
EU market in particular were previously hampered by southern European
protectionist interests.
Population
According to AllCityPopulation.com, Syria has a very young population and population growth is large, although it
was declining in the 1990's. Up to 70% of the residents live in the big cities,
but urban growth seems to slow down in line with slowly improving conditions in
the agricultural communities, e.g. expansion of water and electricity supply.
- Countryaah:
Do you know how many people there are in Syria? Check this site to see
population pyramid and resident density about this country.
Ethnically and religiously, the population is composed. A majority (74%) are
Arab Sunni Muslims, and the original minorities are Alawites, Druze,
Christians and Jews. In addition, a large Palestinian minority, an estimated
430,000 people, for the most part descendants of refugees from the establishment
of Israel in 1948.
Migrations. Syria is a major supplier of labor for the
reconstruction process in Lebanon, not least in Beirut. It is especially the
unskilled who are leaving, but the prospect of better wages and living
conditions has also led many skilled and highly educated people to move
west. Also countries around the Persian Gulf have received many Syrians,
perhaps 1/2 million. A third wave of emigration is
targeting Europe, the United States and Russia. It is young people seeking
education. All three groups include opposition figures who fear reprisals in
Syria after joining the regime.
Health. The development has not been able to keep up with the rapid
population growth, but there has been a moderate improvement with e.g. private
clinics in addition to public health. However, Syria continues to lag behind
many other Arab countries, and there are very large differences between city and
country.
Syria - language
Official language is modern standard Arabic. Different variants of the
Syrian-Palestinian dialect of Arabic are used as spoken language. In the
northeastern corner of Syria, Iraqi-Arabic is spoken. A large minority in the
northeast speaks the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish. Small minorities speak
Malula Aramaic, Turabdian (Syrian) and Armenian. See
also Syrian and Arabic.
Syria - religion
The majority of Syria's population is Muslim: 74% are Sunni
Muslims; Alawites, Druze and Shia Muslims (of which about half are Ismailis)
make up 16%. The rest (10%) belong to various Christian churches (see
also Syrian churches).
There are quite a few Jews, mainly in Damascus, Qamishli and Aleppo. Islam
is not a state religion, and institutionally Islam is therefore not an integral
part of the political system in Syria, as is the case in a number of other
Middle Eastern states. There is a state mufti, but his powers are severely
limited.
Syria - Constitution
The Constitution of the Republic of Syria is from 1973 and declares that
Syria is part of the Pan-Arab unit. The legislative power lies nominally with
the parliament, the People's Assembly, with 250 members elected by general
election for four years. The Constitution gives the Ba'ath Party (Arab Socialist
Ba'ath Party) the leading political role, and it is the center of the National
Progressive Front that unites all parties. The executive has the president, who
must be Muslim. He is proposed by the Ba'ath party and is elected for seven
years by direct election. He appoints a government which has the real
legislative power; it is headed by a prime minister.
Syria - economy
After the Ba'ath Partyin 1963 came to power, the Soviet Union became Syria's
economic and political mainstay, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the
country has had to begin a liberalization of the economy. The government has
retained a dominant role in the economy, but strives, among other
things, through tax incentives to attract foreign investors to the country, just
as import restrictions have been lifted and foreign trade has been oriented
towards the West. After stagnation in the 1980's, economic growth was quite high
in the first half of the 1990's, driven not least by progress in the oil sector
and in the private sector. Economic development has since been modest, hampered
by large public spending on defense and by loss-making state-owned enterprises
and marked by bureaucracy and corruption.
The main trading partners in 2005 were Turkey, Saudi Arabia and
Iraq. Denmark's exports to Syria in 2005 amounted to DKK 207 million. DKK, while
imports from there were 18 mill. kr.
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