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The Syrian Arab Republic is a medium-income country, ranked 106 out of 177 countries on the 2005 human development index.

changing from a centralized economy to a social market economy

The population of the Syrian Arab Republic was 17.8 million in 2004. The population growth rate was 2.45 per cent during 2000-2005, down from 3.3 per cent between 1981 and 1994. Improvements in health care contributed to declining fertility rates, a sharp fall in mortality rates, and increased life expectancy at birth (70 years for males and 72.1 years for females in 2004).

126,034

3,300 Syrians have arrived in Italy by boat over recent weeks, many fleeing troubled Egypt where they had first found a haven from war, the UN refugee agency said

“The majority have come from Egypt,” Edwards told reporters

UNHCR estimates that 4,600 Syrians have arrived by sea in Italy since 2013 began, a massive increase on last year’s total of 369.

. From Syria to Egypt and beyond, partisans yearn to crush old rivals or sectarian foes once and for all.” The language is telling; a perpetuation of the old stereotype of the “angry Arab” with passionate fury fuelled by intemperate Mediterranean blood. Language like this subtly (or not so subtly) underscores the division between “us” – rational beings – and “them” – the dangerous other.

“If you’re Arab, emphasise that fact, since all Arabs are exactly alike and every Arab speaks for all Arabdom. Be sure to divide the entire population of Syria into "good guys" and "bad guys".”

The truth is, we are failures. Two years on, our readers barely remember where Damascus is, and the world instinctively describes what’s happening in Syria as “that mayhem,” because nobody understands anything about Syria—only blood, blood, blood.

Archaeologists have demonstrated that Syria was the center of one of the most ancient civilizations on earth. Around the excavated city of Ebla in northern Syria, discovered in 1975, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 B.C. The city of Ebla alone during that time had a population estimated at 260,000. S

Syria was occupied successively by Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, and, in part, Crusaders before finally coming under the control of the Ottoman Turks

rst organized Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria, from which he left on many of his missionary journeys

Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian (widely understood); French, English (somewhat understood)

Sunni Muslim (Islam - official) 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)

22,457,336 (July 2013 est.)