since October 1976
Climate:
Mediterranean; mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers; Lebanon
mountians experience heavy winter snows
Terrain:
narrow coastal plain; Al Biqa' (Bekaa Valley) separates Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon Mountains
Natural resources: limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region
Land use:
arable land:
21%
permanent crops:
9%
meadows and pastures:
1%
forest and woodland:
8%
other:
61%
Irrigated land:
860 km2 (1989 est.)
Environment:
rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous
factional groups based on religion, clan, ethnicity; deforestation; soil
erosion; air and water pollution; desertification
Note:
Nahr al Litani only major river in Near East not crossing an international
boundary

*Lebanon, People

Population:
3,552,369 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.81% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
27.86 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
6.66 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
-3.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
41 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
69.01 years
male:
66.63 years
female:
71.52 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
3.47 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Lebanese (singular and plural)
adjective:
Lebanese
Ethnic divisions:
Arab 95%, Armenian 4%, other 1%
Religions:
Islam 70% (5 legally recognized Islamic groups - Alawite or Nusayri, Druze,
Isma'ilite, Shi'a, Sunni), Christian 30% (11 legally recognized Christian
groups - 4 Orthodox Christian, 6 Catholic, 1 Protestant), Judaism NEGL%
Languages:
Arabic (official), French (official), Armenian, English
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
total population:
80%
male:
88%
female:
73%
Labor force:
650,000
by occupation:
industry, commerce, and services 79%, agriculture 11%, government 10% (1985)

*Lebanon, Government

Names:
conventional long form:
Republic of Lebanon
conventional short form:
Lebanon
local long form:
Al Jumhuriyah al Lubnaniyah
local short form:
none
Digraph:
LE
Type:
republic
Capital:
Beirut
Administrative divisions:
5 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Biqa, 'Al Janub, Ash
Shamal, Bayrut, Jabal Lubnan
Independence:
22 November 1943 (fr