Flag:

Area
        total: 185,180 sq km
        land: 184,050 sq km
        water: 1,130 sq km 

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.)

Ethnic groups
        Arab 90.3%
        Kurds
        Armenians
        and other 9.7%

Capital: Damascus - 18,448,752

Largest Cities
        Aleppo (Haleb)
        Homs
        Latakia
        Hamah
        Raka
        Deir az Zawr 

Official Language
        Arabic (official)
        Kurdish
        Armenian
        Aramaic
        Circassian widely understood
        French
        English somewhat understood

Religion
        Sunni Muslim 74%
        Alawite
        Druze and other Muslim sects 16%
        Christian (various sects) 10%
        Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus
        Al Qamishli
        and Aleppo

Political system: republic

GDP: purchasing power parity - $60.44 billion (2004 est.)   purchasing power parity - $billion

GDP per head: purchasing power parity - $3,400 (2004 est.)

Annual growth: purchasing power parity - $60.44 billion (2004 est.)   

GDP - composition by sector
        agriculture: 25%
        industry: 31%
        services: 44% (2003 est.)

Inflation: 2.1% (2004 est.)

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