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Compare Guinea-Bissau (2003) - Syria (2007)
Compare Guinea-Bissau (2003) z Syria (2007)
| Guinea-Bissau (2003) | Syria (2007) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 9 regions (regioes, singular - regiao); Bafata, Biombo, Bissau, Bolama, Cacheu, Gabu, Oio, Quinara, Tombali; note - Bolama may have been renamed Bolama/Bijagos | 14 provinces (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Hasakah, Al Ladhiqiyah, Al Qunaytirah, Ar Raqqah, As Suwayda', Dar'a, Dayr az Zawr, Dimashq, Halab, Hamah, Hims, Idlib, Rif Dimashq, Tartus |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 41.9% (male 284,150; female 285,370)
15-64 years: 55.2% (male 358,891; female 392,703) 65 years and over: 2.9% (male 17,285; female 22,428) (2003 est.) |
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.) |
| Agriculture - products | rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish | wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk |
| Airports | 28 (2002) | 90 (2007) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2002) |
total: 26
over 3,047 m: 6 2,438 to 3,047 m: 15 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 2 (2007) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 25
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 20 (2002) |
total: 64
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 52 (2007) |
| Area | total: 36,120 sq km
land: 28,000 sq km water: 8,120 sq km |
total: 185,180 sq km
land: 184,050 sq km water: 1,130 sq km note: includes 1,295 sq km of Israeli-occupied territory |
| Area - comparative | slightly less than three times the size of Connecticut | slightly larger than North Dakota |
| Background | In 1994, 20 years after independence from Portugal, the country's first multiparty legislative and presidential elections were held. An army uprising that triggered a bloody civil war in 1998 created hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. A military junta ousted the president in May 1999. An interim government turned over power in February 2000 when opposition leader Kumba YALA took office following two rounds of transparent presidential elections. Guinea-Bissau's transition back to democracy will be complicated by its crippled economy, devastated in the civil war. | Following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, France administered Syria until its independence in 1946. The country lacked political stability, however, and experienced a series of military coups during its first decades. Syria united with Egypt in February 1958 to form the United Arab Republic. In September 1961, the two entities separated, and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished. In November 1970, Hafiz al-ASAD, a member of the Socialist Ba'th Party and the minority Alawite sect, seized power in a bloodless coup and brought political stability to the country. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel. During the 1990s, Syria and Israel held occasional peace talks over its return. Following the death of President al-ASAD, his son, Bashar al-ASAD, was approved as president by popular referendum in July 2000. Syrian troops - stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in an ostensible peacekeeping role - were withdrawn in April 2005. During the July-August 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah, Syria placed its military forces on alert but did not intervene directly on behalf of its ally Hizballah. |
| Birth rate | 38.41 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) | 27.19 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Budget | revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA |
revenues: $7.635 billion
expenditures: $9.38 billion (2006 est.) |
| Capital | Bissau | name: Damascus
geographic coordinates: 33 30 N, 36 18 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins 1 April; ends 30 September |
| Climate | tropical; generally hot and humid; monsoonal-type rainy season (June to November) with southwesterly winds; dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds | 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 |
| Coastline | 350 km | 193 km |
| Constitution | 16 May 1984, amended 4 May 1991, 4 December 1991, 26 February 1993, 9 June 1993, and 1996 | 13 March 1973 |
| Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Guinea-Bissau
conventional short form: Guinea-Bissau local long form: Republica da Guine-Bissau local short form: Guine-Bissau former: Portuguese Guinea |
conventional long form: Syrian Arab Republic
conventional short form: Syria local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Arabiyah as Suriyah local short form: Suriyah former: United Arab Republic (with Egypt) |
| Currency | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States; previously the Guinea-Bissau peso (GWP) was used | - |
| Death rate | 16.62 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) | 4.74 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Debt - external | $941.5 million (2000 est.) | $6.601 billion; note - excludes military debt and debt to Russia (2006 est.) |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | the US Embassy suspended operations on 14 June 1998 in the midst of violent conflict between forces loyal to then President VIEIRA and military-led junta; for the time being, US embassy Dakar is responsible for covering Guinea-Bissau: telephone - [221] 823-4296; FAX - [221] 822-5903 | chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Michael CORBIN
embassy: Abou Roumaneh, Al-Mansour Street, No. 2, Damascus mailing address: P. O. Box 29, Damascus telephone: [963] (11) 3391-4444 FAX: [963] (11) 3391-3999 |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Henrique Adriano DA SILVA
chancery: 1511 K Street NW, Suite 519, Washington, DC 20005 telephone: [1] (202) 347-3950 FAX: [1] (202) 347-3954 |
chief of mission: Ambassador Imad MUSTAFA
chancery: 2215 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 232-6313 FAX: [1] (202) 234-9548 |
| Disputes - international | separatist war in Senegal's Casamance region results in refugees and cross-border raids, arms smuggling and other illegal activities, and political instability in Guinea-Bissau | Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied with the almost 1,000-strong UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) patrolling a buffer zone since 1964; lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the boundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are unclear with several sections in dispute; since 2000, Lebanon has claimed Shaba'a farms in the Golan Heights; 2004 Agreement and pending demarcation settles border dispute with Jordan; approximately two million Iraqis have fled the conflict in Iraq with the majority taking refuge in Syria and Jordan |
| Economic aid - recipient | $115.4 million (1995) | $77.85 million (2005 est.) |
| Economy - overview | One of the 10 poorest countries in the world, Guinea-Bissau depends mainly on farming and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. Rice is the major crop and staple food. However, intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998; the civil war led to a 28% drop in GDP that year, with partial recovery in 1999-2002. Before the war, trade reform and price liberalization were the most successful part of the country's structural adjustment program under IMF sponsorship. The tightening of monetary policy and the development of the private sector had also begun to reinvigorate the economy. Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect. However, unexploited offshore oil reserves could provide much-needed revenue in the long run. The inequality of income distribution is one of the most extreme in the world. The government and international donors continue to work out plans to forward economic development from a lamentably low base. Government drift and indecision, however, have resulted in low growth in 2002 and dim prospects for 2003. | The Syrian economy grew by an estimated 2.9% in real terms in 2006 led by the petroleum and agricultural sectors, which together account for about one-half of GDP. Higher crude oil prices countered declining oil production and exports and led to higher budgetary and export receipts. Total foreign assets of the Central Bank and domestic banking system rose to about $20 billion in 2006, and the government strengthened the private sector foreign exchange rate by about 7% from the start of the year. The Government of Syria has implemented modest economic reforms in the past few years, including cutting lending interest rates, opening private banks, consolidating some of the multiple exchange rates, and raising prices on some subsidized items, most notably, gasoline and cement. Nevertheless, the economy remains highly controlled by the government. Long-run economic constraints include declining oil production and exports, weak investment, high unemployment, and increasing pressure on water supplies caused by heavy use in agriculture, rapid population growth, industrial expansion, and water pollution. |
| Electricity - consumption | 51.15 million kWh (2001) | 24.74 billion kWh (2005 est.) |
| Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2001) | 0 kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2001) | 0 kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - production | 55 million kWh (2001) | 33.01 billion kWh (2005 est.) |
| Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) |
- |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location in the northeast corner of the country 300 m |
lowest point: unnamed location near Lake Tiberias -200 m
highest point: Mount Hermon 2,814 m |
| Environment - current issues | deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; overfishing | deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution from raw sewage and petroleum refining wastes; inadequate potable water |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification |
| Ethnic groups | African 99% (Balanta 30%, Fula 20%, Manjaca 14%, Mandinga 13%, Papel 7%), European and mulatto less than 1% | Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7% |
| Exchange rates | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.7 (1999), 589.95 (1998)
note: as of 1 May 1997, Guinea-Bissau adopted the XOF franc as the national currency; since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro |
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, |
| Executive branch | chief of state: President Henrique ROSA (interim; since 28 September 2003); note - a September 2003 coup overthrough the elected government of Kumba YALA; General Verissimo Correia SEABRA served as interim president from 14 to 28 September 2003
head of government: Prime Minister Artur SANHA (since 28 September 2003) cabinet: NA elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 28 November 1999 and 16 January 2000 (next to be held NA 2004); prime minister appointed by the president after consultation with party leaders in the legislature election results: Kumba YALA elected president; percent of vote, second ballot - Kumba YALA (PRS) 72%, Malan Bacai SANHA (PAIGC) 28% note: a bloodless coup led to the dissolution of the elected government of Kumba YALA in September 2003; General Verissimo Correia SEABRA served as interim president from 14 September 2003 until stepping aside on 28 September 2003 with the establishment of a caretaker government |
chief of state: President Bashar al-ASAD (since 17 July 2000); Vice President Farouk al-SHARA (since 11 February 2006) oversees foreign policy; Vice President Najah al-ATTAR (since 23 March 2006) oversees cultural policy
head of government: Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-UTRI (since 10 September 2003); Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah al-DARDARI (since 14 June 2005) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president approved by popular referendum for a second seven-year term (no term limits); referendum last held on 27 May 2007 (next to be held in May 2014); the president appoints the vice presidents, prime minister, and deputy prime ministers election results: Bashar al-ASAD approved as president; percent of vote - Bashar al-ASAD 97.6% |
| Exports | NA (2001) | 175,000 bbl/day (2006) |
| Exports - commodities | cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber | crude oil, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat |
| Exports - partners | India 51.5%, Uruguay 19.5%, Thailand 19.4% (2002) | Iraq 27.3%, Germany 12.2%, Lebanon 9.5%, Italy 6.6%, Egypt 5.3%, Saudi Arabia 4.7% (2006) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
| Flag description | two equal horizontal bands of yellow (top) and green with a vertical red band on the hoist side; there is a black five-pointed star centered in the red band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black, colors associated with the Arab Liberation flag; two small green five-pointed stars in a horizontal line centered in the white band; former flag of the United Arab Republic where the two stars represented the constituent states of Syria and Egypt; similar to the flag of Yemen, which has a plain white band, Iraq, which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a horizontal line centered in the white band, and that of Egypt, which has a gold Eagle of Saladin centered in the white band; the current design dates to 1980 |
| GDP | purchasing power parity - $901.4 million (2002 est.) | - |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 62%
industry: 12% services: 26% (1999 est.) |
agriculture: 24.8%
industry: 25.1% services: 50.1% (2005 est.) |
| GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $700 (2002 est.) | - |
| GDP - real growth rate | -4.3% (2002 est.) | 4% (2006 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 12 00 N, 15 00 W | 35 00 N, 38 00 E |
| Geography - note | this small country is swampy along its western coast and low-lying further inland | there are 42 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (August 2005 est.) |
| Heliports | - | 7 (2007) |
| Highways | total: 4,400 km
paved: 453 km unpaved: 3,947 km (1999 est.) |
- |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 42.4% (1991) |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
| Illicit drugs | - | a transit point for opiates, hashish, and cocaine bound for regional and Western markets; weak anti-money-laundering controls and bank privatization may leave it vulnerable to money laundering |
| Imports | NA (2001) | NA bbl/day |
| Imports - commodities | foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products | machinery and transport equipment, electric power machinery, food and livestock, metal and metal products, chemicals and chemical products, plastics, yarn, paper |
| Imports - partners | Senegal 19.6%, Portugal 19.1%, India 15.3%, Taiwan 5.1% (2002) | Saudi Arabia 12.3%, China 7.9%, Egypt 6.2%, UAE 6%, Italy 4.9%, Ukraine 4.8%, Germany 4.7%, Iran 4.5% (2006) |
| Independence | 24 September 1973 (unilaterally declared by Guinea-Bissau); 10 September 1974 (recognized by Portugal) | 17 April 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration) |
| Industrial production growth rate | 2.6% (1997 est.) | 1.5% (2005) |
| Industries | agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks | petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, oil seeds crushing |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 110.29 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 120.99 deaths/1,000 live births female: 99.26 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) |
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.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4% (2002 est.) | 10% (2006 est.) |
| International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | ABEDA, AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO |
| Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 2 (2002) | - |
| Irrigated land | 170 sq km (1998 est.) | 13,330 sq km (2003) |
| Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Supremo Tribunal da Justica (consists of nine justices who are appointed by the president and serve at his pleasure; final court of appeals in criminal and civil cases); Regional Courts (one in each of nine regions; first court of appeals for Sectoral Court decisions; hear all felony cases and civil cases valued at over $1,000); 24 Sectoral Courts (judges are not necessarily trained lawyers; they hear civil cases under $1,000 and misdemeanor criminal cases) | Supreme Judicial Council (appoints and dismisses judges; headed by the President); national level - Supreme Constitutional Court (adjudicates electoral disputes and rules on constitutionality of laws and decrees; justices appointed for four-year terms by the President); Court of Cassation; Appeals Courts (Appeals Courts represent an intermediate level between the Court of Cassation and local level courts); local level - Magistrate Courts; Courts of First Instance; Juvenile Courts; Customs Courts; specialized courts - Economic Security Courts (hear cases related to economic crimes); Supreme State Security Court (hear cases related to national security); Personal Status Courts (religious; hear cases related to marriage and divorce) |
| Labor force | 480,000 | 5.276 million (2006 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 82% (2000 est.) | agriculture: 26%
industry: 14% services: 60% (2003 est.) |
| Land boundaries | total: 724 km
border countries: Guinea 386 km, Senegal 338 km |
total: 2,253 km
border countries: Iraq 605 km, Israel 76 km, Jordan 375 km, Lebanon 375 km, Turkey 822 km |
| Land use | arable land: 10.67%
permanent crops: 1.78% other: 87.55% (1998 est.) |
arable land: 24.8%
permanent crops: 4.47% other: 70.73% (2005) |
| Languages | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
| Legal system | NA | based on a combination of French and Ottoman civil law; Islamic law is used in the family court system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Legislative branch | unicameral National People's Assembly or Assembleia Nacional Popular (100 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve a maximum of four years); note - President YALA dissolved the National People's Assembly in November 2002, elections for a new legislature were scheduled to fall in February 2003 but were then postponed to April, then July, and were last scheduled to occur in September 2003
elections: last held 28 November 1999 (next to be held NA September 2003) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRS 37, RGB 27, PAIGC 25, 11 remaining seats went to 5 of the remaining 10 parties that fielded candidates |
unicameral People's Council or Majlis al-Shaab (250 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held on 22-23 April 2007 (next to be held in 2011) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NPF 172, independents 78 |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 46.97 years
male: 45.09 years female: 48.91 years (2003 est.) |
total population: 70.61 years
male: 69.27 years female: 72.02 years (2007 est.) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 42.4% male: 58.1% female: 27.4% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 79.6% male: 86% female: 73.6% (2004 census) |
| Location | Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Senegal | Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey |
| Map references | Africa | Middle East |
| Maritime claims | exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM |
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm |
| Merchant marine | none (2002 est.) | total: 96 ships (1000 GRT or over) 353,351 GRT/512,597 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 7, cargo 82, container 1, livestock carrier 4, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 1 foreign-owned: 10 (Jordan 2, Lebanon 4, Romania 4) registered in other countries: 164 (Bolivia 1, Cambodia 32, Comoros 8, Cyprus 2, Dominica 2, Georgia 54, Hong Kong 1, North Korea 7, Lebanon 1, Libya 1, Malta 4, Mongolia 1, Panama 24, Sierra Leone 8, Slovakia 2, St Kitts and Nevis 5, St Vincent and The Grenadines 11, unknown 2) (2007) |
| Military branches | People's Revolutionary Armed Force (FARP; includes Army, Navy, and Air Force), paramilitary force | Syrian Armed Forces: Syrian Arab Army (includes Syrian Arab Navy), Syrian Arab Air and Air Defense Force (includes Air Defense Command) (2005) |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $5.6 million (FY02) | - |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.8% (FY02) | 5.9% (2005 est.) |
| Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49: 318,711 (2003 est.) | - |
| Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49: 181,318 (2003 est.) | - |
| National holiday | Independence Day, 24 September (1973) | Independence Day, 17 April (1946) |
| Nationality | noun: Guinean(s)
adjective: Guinean |
noun: Syrian(s)
adjective: Syrian |
| Natural hazards | hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze may reduce visibility during dry season; brush fires | dust storms, sandstorms |
| Natural resources | fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, unexploited deposits of petroleum | petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydropower |
| Net migration rate | -1.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Pipelines | - | gas 2,764 km; oil 2,000 km (2006) |
| Political parties and leaders | African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde or PAIGC [Francisco BENANTE]; Front for the Liberation and Independence of Guinea or FLING [Francois MENDY]; Guinea-Bissau Resistance-Ba Fata Movement or RGB-MB [Helder Vaz LOPES]; Guinean Civic Forum or FCG [Antonieta Rosa GOMES]; International League for Ecological Protection or LIPE [Alhaje Bubacar DJALO, president]; National Union for Democracy and Progress or UNDP [Abubacer BALDE, secretary general]; Party for Democratic Convergence or PCD [Victor MANDINGA]; Social Renovation Party or PRS [Kumba YALA]; Union for Change or UM [Jorge MANDINGA, president, Dr. Anne SAAD, secretary general]; United Social Democratic Party or PUSD [Victor Sau'de MARIA] | legal parties: National Progressive Front or NPF [President Bashar al-ASAD, Dr. Suleiman QADDAH] (includes Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'th) Party [President Bashar al-ASAD]; Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'th) Party [President Bashar al-ASAD]; Socialist Unionist Democratic Party [Fadlallah Nasr Al-DIN]; Syrian Arab Socialist Union or ASU [Safwan QUDSI]; Syrian Communist Party (two branches) [Wissal Farha BAKDASH, Yusuf Rashid FAYSAL]; Syrian Social Nationalist Party [Ali QANSU]; Unionist Socialist Party [Fayez ISMAIL]); illegal parties: Kurdish Azadi Party [Khayr al-Din MURAD]; Kurdish Democratic Alliance [Abd al-Hamid DARWISH] (includes four parties); Kurdish Democratic Front (includes three parties but no designated leader); Kurdish Democratic Union Party or PYD [Ali MUHAMMAD]; Kurdish Future Movement; Kurdish Yekiti Party [Hasan SALEH]; National Democratic Front [Hassan Abd al-AZEM] |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | Damascus Declaration [Riyad SEIF, secretary general] (a broad alliance of opposition groups including: Committee for Revival of Civil Society [Michel KILO, Riyad SEIF]; Kurdish Democratic Alliance; Kurdish Democratic Front; National Democratic Front; Syrian Human Rights Society or HRAS [Fawed FAWUZ]); National Salvation Front (alliance between former Vice President Abd al-Halim KHADDAM, the SMB, and other small opposition groups); Syrian Muslim Brotherhood or SMB [Sadr al-Din al-BAYANUNI]; (operates in exile in London; endorsed the Damascus Declaration but is not an official member) |
| Population | 1,360,827 (July 2003 est.) | 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.) |
| Population below poverty line | NA% | 11.9% (2006 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 2.02% (2003 est.) | 2.244% (2007 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | Bissau, Buba, Cacheu, Farim | - |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0 (2002) | AM 14, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998) |
| Railways | 0 km | total: 2,711 km
standard gauge: 2,460 km 1.435-m gauge narrow gauge: 251 km 1.050-m gauge (2006) |
| Religions | indigenous beliefs 50%, Muslim 45%, Christian 5% | Sunni Muslim 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
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.) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | general assessment: small system
domestic: combination of microwave radio relay, open-wire lines, radiotelephone, and cellular communications international: NA |
general assessment: fair system currently undergoing significant improvement and digital upgrades, including fiber-optic technology
domestic: coaxial cable and microwave radio relay network international: country code - 963; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region); 1 submarine cable; coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey; participant in Medarabtel |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 10,000 (2001) | 3.243 million (2006) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 0 (2001) | 4.675 million (2006) |
| Television broadcast stations | NA (1997) | 44 (plus 17 repeaters) (1995) |
| Terrain | mostly low coastal plain rising to savanna in east | primarily semiarid and desert plateau; narrow coastal plain; mountains in west |
| Total fertility rate | 5.07 children born/woman (2003 est.) | 3.31 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | NA% | 12.5% (2005 est.) |
| Waterways | several rivers are accessible to coastal shipping | 900 km (not economically significant) (2005) |
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