Syria - Geography
Here, let us take a look at the Geography of Syria. The capital of Damascus -- located at an oasis fed by the Barada River -- is thought to be one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities; there are 42 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights (2017). Mother's mean age at first birth is (), whereas, the Maternal mortality ratio is 30 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Geographical data of Syria
| Location | Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey |
|---|---|
| Geographic coordinates | 35 00 N, 38 00 E |
| Map references | Middle East |
| Tarrain | primarily semiarid and desert plateau; narrow coastal plain; mountains in west |
| Natural Resources | petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydropower |
| Natural Hazards | dust storms, sandstorms volcanism: Syria's two historically active volcanoes, Es Safa and an unnamed volcano near the Turkish border have not erupted in centuries |
| Irrigated Land | 13,100 sq km (2013) |
| Major rivers (by length in km) | Euphrates (shared with Turkey [s], Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 3,596 km; Tigris (shared with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 1,950 km note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth |
| Major aquifers | |
| Land Boundaries | 2,363 km |
| Border Countries | Iraq 599 km; Israel 83 km; Jordan 379 km; Lebanon 403 km; Turkey 899 km |
| Coastline | 193 km |
| 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 |
| Area | |
| Total Area | |
| Land Area | 185,887 sq km |
| Water Area | 1,550 sq km |
| comparative Area | slightly more than 1.5 times the size of Pennsylvania |
| Maritime Claims | |
| Territorial sea | 12 nm |
| Contiguous zone | 24 nm |
| Elevations | |
| Highest point | Mount Hermon (Jabal a-Shayk) 2,814 m |
| Lowest point | Yarmuk River -66 m |
| Mean elevation | 514 m |
| Land Use | |
| Agricultural land | 75.8% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: arable land | arable land: 25.4% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: permanent crops | permanent crops: 5.8% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: permanent pasture | permanent pasture: 44.6% (2018 est.) |
| Forest | 2.7% (2018 est.) |
| Other | 21.5% (2018 est.) |
Population Distribution
Significant population density along the Mediterranean coast; larger concentrations found in the major cities of Damascus, Aleppo (the country's largest city), and Hims (Homs); more than half of the population lives in the coastal plain, the province of Halab, and the Euphrates River valley
People and Society
In Syria, the different Ethnic groups are such that we have: Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian)
| Population | |
|---|---|
| Pop growth rate | 1.67% (2024 est.) |
| Birth rate | 21.7 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Death rate | 4 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Health expenditure | NA |
| Physicians Density | |
| Hospital bed Density | 1.4 beds/1,000 population (2017) |
| Total fertility rate | 2.69 children born/woman (2024 est.) |
| Gross reproduction rate | 1.31 (2024 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | NA |
| Est married women (ages 15-49) | 52.6% (2023 est.) |
| Literacy | age 15 and over can read and write |
| Education expenditures | NA |
| Net Migration rate | -1.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Nationality | Syrian | Syrian(s) |
| Languages | |
| Religions | Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%), Christian 10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian), Druze 3% |
| Age Structure | |
| 0-14 years | 33% (male 4,037,493/female 3,828,777) |
| 15-64 years | 62.8% (male 7,475,355/female 7,522,797) |
| 65 years and over | 4.2% (2024 est.) (male 468,730/female 532,271) |
| Dependency Ratios | |
| Total dependency ratio | 55.4 |
| Youth dependency ratio | 53 |
| Elderly dependency ratio | 7.4 |
| Potential support ratio | 13.5 (2021 est.) |
| Median Age | |
| Total | 24.1 years (2024 est.) |
| Male | 23.6 years |
| Female | 24.7 years |
| Urbanization | |
| Urban population | 57.4% of total population (2023) |
| Rate of urbanization | 5.38% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
| Major urban areas (Pop) | 2.585 million DAMASCUS (capital), 2.203 million Aleppo, 1.443 million Hims (Homs), 996,000 Hamah (2023). |
| Sex Ratio | |
| At birth | 1.06 male(s)/female |
| 0-14 years | 1.05 male(s)/female |
| 15-64 years | 0.99 male(s)/female |
| 65 years and over | 0.88 male(s)/female |
| Total population | 1.01 male(s)/female (2024 est.) |
| Infant Motality | |
| Total | 15.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.) |
| Male | 16.6 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Female | 13.5 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Life Expectancy at birth | |
| Total population | 74.8 years (2024 est.) |
| Male | 73.4 years |
| Female | 76.4 years |
| Drinking Water Sources | |
| Improved: urban | urban: 99.6% of population |
| Improved: rural | rural: 100% of population |
| Improved: total | total: 99.8% of population |
| Unimproved: urban | urban: 0.4% of population |
| Unimproved: rural | rural: 0.7% of population |
| Unimproved: total | total: 0.2% of population (2020 est.) |
| Sanitation facility acess | |
| Improved: urban | urban: 99.5% of population |
| Improved: rural | rural: 99.5% of population |
| Improved: total | total: 99.5% of population |
| Unimproved: urban | urban: 0.5% of population |
| Unimproved: rural | rural: 0.5% of population |
| Unimproved: total | total: 0.5% of population (2020 est.) |
| Alcohol consumption per capita | |
| Total | 0.13 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Beer | 0.02 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Wine | 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Spirits | 0.11 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Other alcohols | 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Demographic profile
All Important Facts about Syria
Want to know more about Syria? Check all different factbooks for Syria below.
