Syria
General
Population: 22,517,750 (2011)
Land Area: 185,180 sq km
Natural Resources: Petroleum, phosphates, chrome, manganese, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydro power
Capital: Damascus
Political System: Republic
State Leader: Bashar al-Assad (2000)
Head of Government: Adil Safr (2011)
Languages: Arabic, Kurdish, Aramaic, Circassian, French
Currency: Syrian Pound (SYP)
Major Religions: Sunni Muslim 74%, Other Muslim 16%, Christian 10%
Major Ethnicities: Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and Other 9.7%
Life Expectancy: 74.69 years (2011)
Economy
GDP Official Exchange Rate: 59.33 billion (2010)
GDP Purchasing Power Parity: 107.4 billion (2010)
GDP Per Capita (PPP): 4,800 (2010)
GDP Growth Rate: 3.2% (2010)
GDP Structure: Agriculture 17.6%, Industry 26.8%, Services 55.6% (2010)
Labour Force By Occupation: Agriculture 17%, Industry 16%, Services 67% (2008)
Industries: Petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, oil seeds crushing, car assembly
Agriculture Products: Wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk
Human Development Index: 0.632 (119th)
Tourism Revenue: 1.888 billion (2004)
Unemployment Rate: 8.3% (2010)
Military
Army Size: 307 600 (2008)
Budget: 5.9% of GDP (2005)
Current Situation
Syria is located in the Middle East. It is bordered by Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Syria's economy is based mostly on agriculture, petroleum and tourism. Oil production has decreased over the years and it is believed that Syria will stop being an oil exporter and will in turn become an oil importer. When this occurs government revenues will be badly hit. Syria needs to attract major foreign investments in order to increase its growth rate and lower its unemployment rate. Investments in fields like natural gas would be attractive, since Syria has large reserves of this commodity.
Photo Gallery
Sources
CIA World Factbook: Syria
Wikipedia: Syria
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/SYR.html