##ciekawa_strona##
Compare Syria (2005) - Korea, North (2006)
Compare Syria (2005) z Korea, North (2006)
| Syria (2005) | Korea, North (2006) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 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 | 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities (si, singular and plural)
provinces: Chagang-do (Chagang), Hamgyong-bukto (North Hamgyong), Hamgyong-namdo (South Hamgyong), Hwanghae-bukto (North Hwanghae), Hwanghae-namdo (South Hwanghae), Kangwon-do (Kangwon), P'yongan-bukto (North P'yongan), P'yongan-namdo (South P'yongan), Yanggang-do (Yanggang) municipalites: Kaesong-si (Kaesong), Najin Sonbong-si (Najin), Namp'o-si (Namp'o), P'yongyang-si (Pyongyang) |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 37.4% (male 3,556,795/female 3,350,267)
15-64 years: 59.3% (male 5,601,971/female 5,333,799) 65 years and over: 3.3% (male 288,868/female 317,052) (2005 est.) |
0-14 years: 23.8% (male 2,788,944/female 2,708,331)
15-64 years: 68% (male 7,762,442/female 7,955,522) 65 years and over: 8.2% (male 667,792/female 1,229,988) (2006 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs |
| Airports | 92 (2004 est.) | 77 (2006) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total: 26
over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 16 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.) |
total: 36
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 22 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 3 (2006) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 66
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 10 under 914 m: 54 (2004 est.) |
total: 41
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 20 914 to 1,523 m: 13 under 914 m: 7 (2006) |
| Area | 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 |
total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly larger than North Dakota | slightly smaller than Mississippi |
| Background | Following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Syria was administered by the French until independence in 1946. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel. Syrian troops - stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in an ostensible peacekeeping role - were withdrawn in April of 2005. Over the past decade, Syria and Israel have held occasional peace talks over the return of the Golan Heights. | An independent kingdom for much of its long history, Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War. Five years later, Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula. Following World War II, Korea was split with the northern half coming under Soviet-sponsored Communist domination. After failing in the Korean War (1950-53) to conquer the US-backed Republic of Korea (ROK) in the southern portion by force, North Korea (DPRK), under its founder President KIM Il-so'ng, adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic "self-reliance" as a check against excessive Soviet or Communist Chinese influence. The DPRK demonized the US as the ultimate threat to its social system through state-funded propaganda, and molded political, economic, and military policies around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under Pyongyang's control. KIM's son, the current ruler KIM Jong Il, was officially designated as his father's successor in 1980, assuming a growing political and managerial role until the elder KIM's death in 1994. After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development, as well as its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and massive conventional armed forces, are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, following revelations that the DPRK was pursuing a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement with the US to freeze and ultimately dismantle its existing plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In January 2003, it declared its withdrawal from the international Non-Proliferation Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract weapons-grade plutonium) and was developing a "nuclear deterrent." Since August 2003, North Korea has participated in the Six-Party Talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the US designed to resolve the stalemate over its nuclear programs. The fourth round of Six-Party Talks were held in Beijing during July-September 2005. All parties agreed to a Joint Statement of Principles in which, among other things, the six parties unanimously reaffirmed the goal of verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner. In the Joint Statement, the DPRK committed to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to IAEA safeguards." The Joint Statement also commits the US and other parties to certain actions as the DPRK denuclearizes. The US offered a security assurance, specifying that it had no nuclear weapons on ROK territory and no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or other weapons. The US and DPRK will take steps to normalize relations, subject to the DPRK's implementing its denuclearization pledge and resolving other longstanding concerns. While the Joint Statement provides a vision of the end-point of the Six-Party process, much work lies ahead to implement the elements of the agreement. |
| Birth rate | 28.29 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 15.54 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
| Budget | revenues: $6.58 billion
expenditures: $9.45 billion, including capital expenditures of $4.67 billion (2004 est.) |
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA |
| Capital | Damascus | name: Pyongyang
geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| 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 | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer |
| Coastline | 193 km | 2,495 km |
| Constitution | 13 March 1973 | adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998 |
| Country name | 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) |
conventional long form: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
conventional short form: North Korea local long form: Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk local short form: Choson abbreviation: DPRK |
| Death rate | 4.88 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 7.13 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
| Debt - external | $4 billion (excludes military debt and debt to Russia) (2004 est.) | $12 billion (1996 est.) |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Margaret SCOBEY
embassy: Abou Roumaneh, Al-Mansur Street, No. 2, Damascus mailing address: P. O. Box 29, Damascus telephone: [963] (11) 333-1342 FAX: [963] (11) 331-9678 |
none; note - Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Imad MUSTAFA
chancery: 2215 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 232-6313 FAX: [1] (202) 234-9548 |
none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York |
| Disputes - international | Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied with the almost 1,000-strong UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) patrolling a buffer zone since 1964; Lebanon claims Shaba'a farms in Golan Heights; international pressure prompts the removal of Syrian troops and intelligence personel stationed in Lebanon since October 1976; Syria protests Turkish hydrological projects regulating upper Euphrates waters; 2004 Agreement and pending demarcation settles border dispute with Jordan | China seeks to stem illegal migration of tens of thousands of North Koreans escaping famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers and a section of boundary around Paektu-san (mountain) is indefinite; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic maritime disputes with South over the Northern Limit Line; North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima) |
| Economic aid - recipient | $180 million (2002 est.) | $NA; note - approximately 350,000 metric tons in food aid, worth approximately $118 million, through the World Food Program appeal in 2004, plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations |
| Economy - overview | Real GDP growth rose to 2.3 percent in 2004, a slight increase from 2003 when the predominantly statist economy suffered from disruptions caused by the war in Iraq and other developments in the region. Annual real GDP growth has averaged 2.3 percent for the last seven years. The Government of Syria has implemented modest economic reforms in the last few years, including cutting interest rates, opening private banks, consolidating some of the multiple exchange rates, and raising prices on some subsidized foodstuffs. Nevertheless, the economy remains highly controlled by the government. Long run economic constraints include declining oil production and exports and pressure on water supplies caused by rapid population growth, industrial expansion, and increased water pollution. | North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. Despite an increased harvest in 2005 because of more stable weather conditions, fertilizer assistance from South Korea, and an extraordinary mobilization of the population to help with agricultural production, the nation has suffered its 11th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In 2004, the regime formalized an arrangement whereby private "farmers markets" were allowed to begin selling a wider range of goods. It also permitted some private farming on an experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. In October 2005, the regime reversed some of these policies by forbidding private sales of grains and reinstituting a centralized food rationing system. In December 2005, the regime confirmed that it intended to carry out earlier threats to terminate all international humanitarian assistance operations in the DPRK (calling instead for developmental assistance only) and to restrict the activities of international and non-governmental aid organizations such as the World Food Program. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations. |
| Electricity - consumption | 24.32 billion kWh (2002) | 17.43 billion kWh (2003) |
| Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2002) | 0 kWh (2003) |
| Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2002) | 0 kWh (2003) |
| Electricity - production | 26.15 billion kWh (2002) | 18.75 billion kWh (2003) |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point: unnamed location near Lake Tiberias -200 m
highest point: Mount Hermon 2,814 m |
lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m |
| Environment - current issues | deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution from raw sewage and petroleum refining wastes; inadequate potable water | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification |
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
| Ethnic groups | Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7% | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese |
| Exchange rates | Syrian pounds per US dollar - (official rate): 11.225 (2004), 11.225 (2003), 11.225 (2002), 11.225 (2001), 11.225 (2000), (parallel market rate in Amman and Beirut) NA (2004), 52.8 (2003), 52.4 (2002), 50.4 (2002), 49.4 (2000) | official: North Korean won per US dollar - 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), 2.15 (December 2001); market: North Korean won per US dollar - 300-600 (December 2002) |
| Executive branch | chief of state: President Bashar al-ASAD (since 17 July 2000); Vice Presidents Abd al-Halim ibn Said KHADDAM (since 11 March 1984) and Muhammad Zuhayr MASHARIQA (since 11 March 1984)
head of government: Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-UTRI (since 10 September 2003) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; referendum/election last held 10 July 2000 - after the death of President Hafiz al-ASAD, father of Bashar al-ASAD - (next to be held 2007); vice presidents appointed by the president; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Bashar al-ASAD elected president; percent of vote - Bashar al-ASAD 97.29% note: Hafiz al-ASAD died on 10 June 2000; on 20 June 2000, the Ba'th Party nominated Bashar al-ASAD for president and presented his name to the People's Council on 25 June 2000 |
chief of state: KIM Jong Il (since July 1994); note - on 3 September 2003, rubberstamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) reelected KIM Jong Il chairman of the National Defense Commission, a position accorded nation's "highest administrative authority"; SPA reelected KIM Yong Nam president of its Presidium also with responsibility of representing state and receiving diplomatic credentials; SPA appointed PAK Pong Ju premier
head of government: Premier PAK Pong Ju (since 3 September 2003); Vice Premiers KWAK Pom Gi (since 5 September 1998), JON Sung Hun (since 3 September 2003), RO Tu Chol (since 3 September 2003) cabinet: Naegak (cabinet) members, except for Minister of People's Armed Forces, are appointed by SPA elections: last held in September 2003 (next to be held in September 2008) election results: KIM Jong Il and KIM Yong Nam were only nominees for positions and ran unopposed |
| Exports | 285,000 bbl/day (2004) | NA bbl/day |
| Exports - commodities | crude oil, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, fishery products |
| Exports - partners | Italy 22.7%, France 18%, Turkey 12.9%, Iraq 9%, Saudi Arabia 6.2% (2004) | China 45.6%, South Korea 20.2%, Japan 12.9% (2004) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
| Flag description | 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 | three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue; the red band is edged in white; on the hoist side of the red band is a white disk with a red five-pointed star |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 25%
industry: 31% services: 44% (2003 est.) |
agriculture: 30%
industry: 34% services: 36% (2002 est.) |
| GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $3,400 (2004 est.) | - |
| GDP - real growth rate | 2.3% (2004 est.) | 1% (2005 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 35 00 N, 38 00 E | 40 00 N, 127 00 E |
| Geography - note | there are 42 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (February 2002 est.) | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated |
| Heliports | 7 (2004 est.) | 22 (2006) |
| Highways | total: 45,697 km
paved: 6,489 km (including 1,001 km of expressways) unpaved: 39,208 km (2002) |
- |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
| Illicit drugs | a transit point for opiates and hashish bound for regional and Western markets; weak anti-money-laundering controls, bank privatization may leave it vulnerable to money-laundering | for years, from the 1970s into the 2000s, citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), many of them diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad while trafficking in narcotics, including two in Turkey in December 2004; police investigations in Taiwan and Japan in recent years have linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and methamphetamine, including an attempt by the North Korean merchant ship Pong Su to deliver 150 kg of heroin to Australia in April 2003 |
| Imports | NA | 22,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment, electric power machinery, food and livestock, metal and metal products, chemicals and chemical products, plastics, yarn, paper | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain |
| Imports - partners | Turkey 9.4%, Ukraine 8.7%, China 7.8%, Russia 5.4%, Saudi Arabia 5.2%, US 4.7%, South Korea 4.6%, Italy 4.3% (2004) | China 32.9%, Thailand 10.7%, Japan 4.8% (2004) |
| Independence | 17 April 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration) | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) |
| Industrial production growth rate | 7% (2002 est.) | NA% |
| Industries | petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining | military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 29.53 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 29.76 deaths/1,000 live births female: 29.28 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
total: 23.29 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 24.97 deaths/1,000 live births female: 21.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 2.1% (2004 est.) | NA% |
| International organization participation | 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, ISO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNRWA, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO | ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO |
| Irrigated land | 12,130 sq km (1998 est.) | 14,600 sq km (2003) |
| Judicial branch | Supreme Constitutional Court (justices are appointed for four-year terms by the president); High Judicial Council; Court of Cassation; State Security Courts | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly) |
| Labor force | 5.12 million (2004 est.) | 9.6 million |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 30%, industry 27%, services 43% (2002 est.) | agriculture: 36%
industry and services: 64% |
| Land boundaries | total: 2,253 km
border countries: Iraq 605 km, Israel 76 km, Jordan 375 km, Lebanon 375 km, Turkey 822 km |
total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km |
| Land use | arable land: 25.22%
permanent crops: 4.43% other: 70.35% (2001) |
arable land: 22.4%
permanent crops: 1.66% other: 75.94% (2005) |
| Languages | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood | Korean |
| Legal system | based on Islamic law and civil law system; special religious courts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on German civil law system with Japanese influences and Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Legislative branch | unicameral People's Council or Majlis al-Shaab (250 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 2-3 March 2003 (next to be held NA 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NPF 67%, independents 33%; seats by party - NPF 167, independents 83; note - the constitution guarantees that the Ba'th Party (part of the NPF alliance) receives one-half of the seats |
unicameral Supreme People's Assembly or Ch'oego Inmin Hoeui (687 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 3 August 2003 (next to be held in August 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; ruling party approves a list of candidates who are elected without opposition; some seats are held by minor parties |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 70.03 years
male: 68.75 years female: 71.38 years (2005 est.) |
total population: 71.65 years
male: 68.92 years female: 74.51 years (2006 est.) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 76.9% male: 89.7% female: 64% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% |
| Location | Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea |
| Map references | Middle East | Asia |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 41 nm |
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm note: military boundary line 50 nm in the Sea of Japan and the exclusive economic zone limit in the Yellow Sea where all foreign vessels and aircraft without permission are banned |
| Merchant marine | total: 120 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 446,981 GRT/636,620 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 8, cargo 105, container 1, livestock carrier 4, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 1 foreign-owned: 12 (Egypt 1, Greece 1, Jordan 2, Lebanon 7, Romania 1) registered in other countries: 73 (2005) |
total: 232 ships (1000 GRT or over) 983,182 GRT/1,370,104 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 14, cargo 176, chemical tanker 1, container 4, livestock carrier 3, passenger/cargo 5, petroleum tanker 17, refrigerated cargo 3, roll on/roll off 8, vehicle carrier 1 foreign-owned: 60 (British Virgin Islands 1, China 1, Denmark 1, Egypt 2, Greece 1, India 1, Lebanon 6, Lithuania 1, Marshall Islands 1, Pakistan 3, Romania 11, Russia 1, Singapore 1, Syria 14, Turkey 4, UAE 6, US 3, Yemen 2) registered in other countries: 5 (Belize 2, Mongolia 3) (2006) |
| Military branches | Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Navy, Syrian Arab Air Force (includes Air Defense Command), Police and Security Force | North Korean People's Army: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force; civil security forces (2005) |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $858 million (FY00 est.); note - based on official budget data that may understate actual spending | $5,217.4 million (FY02) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 5.9% (FY00) | NA |
| National holiday | Independence Day, 17 April (1946) | Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) |
| Nationality | noun: Syrian(s)
adjective: Syrian |
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
| Natural hazards | dust storms, sandstorms | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall |
| Natural resources | petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydropower | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower |
| Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
| Pipelines | gas 2,300 km; oil 2,183 km (2004) | oil 154 km (2006) |
| Political parties and leaders | Arab Socialist Unionist Movement [Ahmed al-AHMED]; National Progressive Front or NPF (includes Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'th) Party; the governing party) [President Bashar al-ASAD, secretary general]; Socialist Unionist Democratic Party [Fadlallal Nasr Al-DIN]; Syrian Arab Socialist Party or ASP [Safwan QUDSI]; Syrian Communist Party (two branches) [Wissal Farha BAKDASH, Yuusuf Rashid FAYSAL]; Syrian Social National Party [Jubran URAYJI]; Unionist Socialist Party [Fayez ISMAIL] | major party - Korean Workers' Party or KWP [KIM Jong Il]; minor parties - Chondoist Chongu Party [RYU Mi Yong] (under KWP control), Social Democratic Party [KIM Yong Dae] (under KWP control) |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | conservative religious leaders; Kurdish Democratic Alliance [leader NA]; Kurdish Democratic Front [leader NA]; Muslim Brotherhood (operates in exile in London) [Ali Badr Eddine al-BAYANOUNI]; National Democratic Front [Hassan Abd al-AZIM] | none |
| Population | 18,448,752
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 2005 est.) |
23,113,019 (July 2006 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | 20% (2004 est.) | NA% |
| Population growth rate | 2.34% (2005 est.) | 0.84% (2006 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | Baniyas, Latakia | - |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 14, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998) | AM 17 (including 11 stations of Korean Central Broadcasting Station), FM 14, shortwave 14 (2003) |
| Railways | total: 2,711 km
standard gauge: 2,460 km 1.435-m gauge narrow gauge: 251 km 1.050-m gauge (2004) |
total: 5,214 km
standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2005) |
| Religions | Sunni Muslim 74%, Alawite, Druze, and other Muslim sects 16%, Christian (various sects) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo) | traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)
note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.54 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2006 est.) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 17 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | 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 |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: country code - 850; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Russian (Indian Ocean region); other international connections through Moscow and Beijing |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 2,099,300 (2002) | 980,000 (2003) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 400,000 (2002) | NA |
| Television broadcast stations | 44 (plus 17 repeaters) (1995) | 4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003) |
| Terrain | primarily semiarid and desert plateau; narrow coastal plain; mountains in west | mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east |
| Total fertility rate | 3.5 children born/woman (2005 est.) | 2.1 children born/woman (2006 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 20% (2002 est.) | NA% |
| Waterways | 900 km (not economically significant) (2002) | 2,250 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2006) |
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