Country Facts - Lebanan

The People

Nationality

Lebanese (singular and plural)

Ethnic Composition

Arab	95%
Armenian	4%
Other	1%

Religious Composition

Islam (including Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite or Nusayri)	70%
Christian	29%
Other and nonaffiliated	1%

Languages Spoken

Arabic (official), French, Armenian, English

Education and Literacy

Education is compulsory for five years. The adult literacy rate is 86.4 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 1.5 million (2001)
By occupation:

Agriculture	7%
Industry	31%
Services	62%

Note: in addition, there are as many as 1 million foreign workers. (1999)

Geography

Land Mass Total

4,015 sq mi (10,400 sq km)

Land

3,949 sq mi (10,230 sq km)

Water

65 sq mi (170 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 282 mi (454 km)
Border countries: Israel 49 mi (79 km), Syria 233 mi (375 km)

Coastline

139 mi (

225 km)

Maritime claim

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Mediterranean; mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers; Lebanon mountains experience heavy winter snows.

Terrain

Narrow coastal plain; Al Biqa' (Bek áa Valley) separates Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Mediterranean Sea 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Qurnat as Sawda' 10,131 ft (3,088 m)

Natural Resources

Limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region, arable land.

Land use

Arable land	18%
Permanent crops	12%
Other	70%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Dust storms and sandstorms.

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.

Geography Note

Nahr al-Litani is the 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.

Demographics

Population

3,677,780 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	27.3%	Male: 511,902	Female: 491,804
15-64 years:	65.9%	Male: 1,157,688	Female: 1,267,106
65 years and over:	6.8%	Male: 113,341	Female: 135,939

Growth Rate

1.36% (2002)

Life Expectancy

71.79 years
Female: 74.32 years
Male: 69.38 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$5,200 (2001)

Infant Mortality

27.39 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.91 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.83 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.94 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

The 1975-91 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. Peace enabled the central government to restore control in Beirut, begin collecting taxes, and regain access to key port and government facilities. Economic recovery was helped by a financially sound banking system and the presence of resilient small- and medium-scale manufacturers. Family remittances, banking services, manufactured and farm exports, and international aid provided the main sources of foreign exchange. Lebanon's economy made impressive gains since the launch in 1993 of "Horizon 2000," the government's $20 billion reconstruction program. Real GDP grew 8 percent in 1994, 7 percent in 1995, 4 percent in 1996 and in 1997 but slowed to 2 percent in 1998, -1 percent in 1999, and -0.5 percent in 2000. Growth recovered slightly in 2001 to 1 percent. During the 1990s annual inflation fell to almost 0 percent from more than 100 percent.
Lebanon has rebuilt much of its war-torn physical and financial infrastructure. The government nonetheless faces serious challenges in the economic arena. It has funded reconstruction by borrowing heavily - mostly from domestic banks. The re-installed Hariri government has failed to rein in the ballooning national debt. Denied the backing of large-scale international aid and caught up in the rapid privatization of state-owned enterprises, markets caused a slight currency devaluation and raised the specter of debt default in 2002. That crisis having been survived, the Lebanese deficit will fall sharply in 2003 and head even lower in 2004. Inflation is expected to slow after having risen sharply in 2002, but the current account will keep its deficit problems. Another problem is arising, however, as Eurobonds worth US$2.2 billion mature in 2003-04, thereby placing pressure on government cash flow.

Unemployment

18% (1997)

Inflation Rate

0.5% (2001)

Industries

Banking; food processing; jewelry; cement; textiles; mineral and chemical products; wood and furniture products; oil refining; metal fabricating.

Exports

US$700 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$6.6 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US $18.8 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Saudi Arabia 11%, UAE 11%, Switzerland 7%, US 7%, France 5%, Iraq 4%, Jordan 4%, Kuwait 4%, Syria 4% (2000)

Top Import Partners

Italy 11%, France 8%, Germany 8%, US 7%, Switzerland 6%, China 5%, Syria 5%, UK 4% (2000)

Top Exports

Foodstuffs and tobacco, textiles, chemicals, precious stones, metal and metal products, electrical equipment and products, jewelry, paper and paper products

Top Imports

Foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, textiles, metals, fuels, agricultural foods

Debt - external

US$8.4 billion (2001)

Economic aid

US$3.5 billion (pledges 1997-2001)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Retail	8a.m. to 7p.m.	Shorter hours on weekends.
Banks	8a.m. to 12:30p.m.	Saturday 8a.m. to noon. Some banks remain open until 5p.m.
Government	November through May: 8a.m. to 2p.m.	November through May: 8a.m. to 2p.m. June through October: Saturday 8a.m. to noon.

Note: All businesses make scheduling allowances for Islamic prayer periods.

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Christmas (Orthodox)¹	January 7	January 7	January 7
St. Maroon's Day	February 9	February 9	February 9
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)²	February 12	February 2	January 21
Solidarity with South Lebanon	March 14	March 14	March 14
Islamic New Year³	March 5	February 22	February 10
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter*¹	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 12	March 28
Qana Memorial Day	April 16	April 16	April 16
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Good Friday (Orthodox)	May 3	April 25	April 9
Easter (Orthodox)*¹	April 27	April 11	May 1
Easter Monday (Orthodox)	April 28	April 12	May 2
Martyr's Day	May 6	May 6	May 6
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)*²	May 14	May 2	April 21
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	August 15	August 15	August 15
Ascent of the Prophet (Lailat al Miraj, Islamic Observance)*³	September 24	September 12	September 1
All Saints' Day	November 1	November 1	November 1
Start of Ramadan**¹	October 27	October 15	October 4
Independence Day	November 22	November 22	November 22
End of Ramadan (Eid Al Fitr)**²	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day¹	December 25	December 25	December 25
New Year's Eve	December 31	December 31	December 31

¹	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D. 320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.
²	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
³	The lunar Islamic Hijra calendar is made up of 12 months, each month alternating between 29 and 30 days per month, culminating in a total of 354 days per year. The Hijra calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and annually moves 11 days backward through the seasons.
*¹	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
*²	The Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the twelfth day in the month of Rabi'l of the Islamic calendar.
*³	The Ascent of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the twenty-seventh day in the month of Rajab of the Islamic calendar.
**¹	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
**²	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press