ABOUT LEBANON SECTION

Location: Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Israel and Syria Map references: Middle East

Area:

total area: 10,400 sq km

land area: 10,230 sq km

comparative area: about 0.8 times the size of Connecticut

Land boundaries: total 454 km, Israel 79 km, Syria 375 km

Coastline: 225 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: separated from Palastine by the 1949 Armistice Line; Israeli troops in southern Lebanon since June 1982. (we throw them away they run from here in may 1999 afraid like little rabbits..... hope soon Palastine will be free).

Climate: Mediterranean; mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers; Lebanon mountains 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 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:

current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in Beirut from vehicular traffic and the burning of industrial wastes; pollution of coastal waters from raw sewage and oil spills

natural hazards: duststorms, sandstorms international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Desertification, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation

Note: Nahr al Litani only major river in Near East not crossing an international boundary; rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion, clan, and ethnicity


People

Population: 3,695,921 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 36% (female 657,403; male 682,757)

15-64 years: 58% (female 1,131,450; male 1,016,859)

65 years and over: 6% (female 111,585; male 95,867) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.15% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 27.9 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 6.44 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 38 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 69.69 years

male: 67.22 years

female: 72.28 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.31 children born/woman (1995 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 est.)

total population: 80%

male: 88%

female: 73%

Labor force: 650,000

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 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration)

National holiday: Independence Day, 22 November (1943)

Constitution: 23 May 1926, amended a number of times

Legal system: mixture of Ottoman law, canon law, Napoleonic code, and civil law; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 21 years of age; compulsory for all males; authorized for women at age 21 with elementary education

Executive branch:

chief of state: President Emil Lahhoud (since 1998); note - by custom, the president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of the legislature is a Shi'a Muslim

head of government: Prime Minister Rafiq HARIRI (since 2000)

cabinet: Cabinet; chosen by the president in consultation with the members of the National Assembly

Legislative branch: unicameral

National Assembly: (Arabic - Majlis Alnuwab, French - Assemblee Nationale) Lebanon's first legislative election in 20 years was held in the summer of 1992; the National Assembly is composed of 128 deputies, one-half Christian and one-half Muslim; its mandate expires in 1996

Judicial branch: four Courts of Cassation (three courts for civil and commercial cases and one court for criminal cases)

Political parties and leaders: political party activity is organized along largely sectarian lines; numerous political groupings exist, consisting of individual political figures and followers motivated by religious, clan, and economic considerations

Member of: ABEDA, ACCT, AFESD, AL, AMF, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, NAM, OIC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNRWA, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Riyad TABBARAH

chancery: 2560 28th Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone: [1] (202) 939-6300

FAX: [1] (202) 939-6324

consulate(s) general: Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles

US diplomatic representation:

chief of mission: (vacant)

embassy: Antelias, Beirut

address: P. O. Box 70-840, Beirut; PSC 815, Box 2, Beirut; FPO AE 09836-0002

telephone: [961] (1) 402200, 403300, 416502, 426183, 417774

FAX: [961] (1) 407112

Flag: three horizontal bands of red (top), white (double width), and red with a green and brown cedar tree centered in the white band

Economy

Overview: The 1975-1991 civil war seriously damaged Lebanon's economic infrastructure, cut national output by half, and all but ended Lebanon's position as a Middle Eastern entrepot and banking hub. A tentative peace has enabled the central government to begin restoring control in Beirut, collect taxes, and regain access to key port and government facilities. The battered economy has also been propped up by a financially sound banking system and resilient small- and medium-scale manufacturers. Family remittances, banking transactions, manufactured and farm exports, the narcotics trade, and international emergency aid are the main sources of foreign exchange. In the relatively settled year of 1991, industrial production, agricultural output, and exports showed substantial gains. The further rebuilding of the war-ravaged country was delayed in 1992 because of an upturn in political wrangling. In October 1992, Rafiq HARIRI was appointed Prime Minister. HARIRI, a wealthy entrepreneur, announced ambitious plans for Lebanon's reconstruction which involve a substantial influx of foreign aid and investment. Progress on restoring basic services is limited. Since Prime Minister HARIRI's appointment, the most significant improvement lies in the stabilization of the Lebanese pound, which had gained over 30% in value by yearend 1993. The years 1993 and 1994 were marked by efforts of the new administration to encourage domestic and foreign investment and to obtain additional international assistance. The construction sector led the 8.5% advance in real GDP in 1994.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $15.8 billion (1994 est.)

National product real growth rate: 8.5% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $4,360 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12% (1994 est.)

Unemployment rate: 35% (1993 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $1.4 billion

expenditures: $3.2 billion (1994 est.)

Exports: $925 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)

commodities: agricultural products, chemicals, textiles, precious and semiprecious metals and jewelry, metals and metal products

partners: Saudi Arabia 21%, Switzerland 9.5%, Jordan 6%, Kuwait 12%, US 5%

Imports: $4.1 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)

commodities: consumer goods, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products

partners: Italy 14%, France 12%, US 6%, Turkey 5%, Saudi Arabia 3%

External debt: $765 million (1994 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 25% (1993 est.)

Electricity:

capacity: 1,220,000 kW

production: 2.5 billion kWh

consumption per capita: 676 kWh (1993)

Industries: banking, food processing, textiles, cement, oil refining, chemicals, jewelry, some metal fabricating

Agriculture: principal products - citrus fruits, vegetables, potatoes, olives, tobacco, hemp (hashish), sheep, goats; not self-sufficient in grain

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of hashish and heroin for the international drug trade; hashish production is shipped to Western Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America; increasingly a key locus of cocaine processing and trafficking; a Lebanese/Syrian 1994 eradication campaign eliminated the opium crop and caused a 50% decrease in the cannabis crop

Economic aid: the government estimates that it has received $1.7 billion in aid and has an additional $725 million in commitments to support its $3 billion National Emergency Recovery Program

Currency: 1 Lebanese pound (#L) = 100 piasters