Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
Population
22,530,746
584,578
Life Expectancy
74.920 years
74.420 years
Capital City
Damascus
Largest city
Aleppo (population: 1,602,260)
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Human Development Index
0.736
0.591
GDP per capita
$5,100 US
Literacy Rate
79.6%
%
Corruption Perception Index
2.1
2.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
12.4%
0%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
12.300%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
republic under an authoritarian military-dominated regime
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
17 April 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration)
Religions
Sunni Muslim 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
Exports
crude oil, minerals, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, textiles, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat
External Debt
$7,074,000,000 $
Exchange Rate
Syrian pounds (SYP) per US dollar - 46.5281 (2008 est.), 50.0085 (2007), 51.689 (2006), 50 (2005), 48.5 (2004) 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,
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
5.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Area
185,180 km sq
28,896 km sq
Coastline
193 km
5,313 km
Climate
mostly desert; hot, dry, sunny summers (June to August) and mild, rainy winters (December to February) along coast; cold weather with snow or sleet periodically in Damascus
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
