border countries: Iraq 605 km, Israel 76 km, Jordan 375 km, Lebanon
375 km, Turkey 822 km

Coastline: 193 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 41 nm
territorial sea: 35 nm

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 hitting Damascus

Terrain: primarily semiarid and desert plateau; narrow coastal
plain; mountains in west

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: unnamed location near Lake Tiberias -200 m
highest point: Mount Hermon 2,814 m

Natural resources: petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese
ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum

Land use:
arable land: 28%
permanent crops: 4%
permanent pastures: 43%
forests and woodland: 3%
other: 22% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 9,060 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: dust storms, sandstorms

Environment--current issues: deforestation; overgrazing; soil
erosion; desertification; water pollution from dumping of raw sewage
and wastes from petroleum refining; inadequate supplies of potable
water

Environment--international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Hazardous
Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

Geography--note: there are 42 Israeli settlements and civilian
land use sites in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (August 1998
est.)

People

Population: 17,213,871 (July 1999 est.)
note: in addition, there are about 37,200 people living in the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights--18,200 Arabs (16,500 Druze and 1,700
Alawites) and about 19,000 Israeli settlers (August 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 46% (male 4,032,620; female 3,840,431)
15-64 years: 51% (male 4,515,274; female 4,322,415)
65 years and over: 3% (male 246,812; female 256,319) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.15% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 36.95 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 5.4 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.96 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 36.42 deaths/1,000 live births (199