*Lebanon, Geography

Location:
  Middle East, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, between Israel and Syria
Map references:
  Africa, Middle East, Standard Time Zones of the World
Area:
 total area:
  10,400 km2
 land area:
  10,230 km2
 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 Israel by the 1949 Armistice Line; Israeli troops in southern
  Lebanon since June 1982; Syrian troops in northern, central, and eastern
  Lebanon since October 1976
Climate:
  Mediterranean; mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers; Lebanon
  mountians 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 km2 (1989 est.)
Environment:
  rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous
  factional groups based on religion, clan, ethnicity; deforestation; soil
  erosion; air and water pollution; desertification
Note:
  Nahr al Litani only major river in Near East not crossing an international
  boundary

*Lebanon, People

Population:
  3,552,369 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
  1.81% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
  27.86 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
  6.66 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
  -3.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
  41 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
 total population:
  69.01 years
 male:
  66.63 years
 female:
  71.52 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
  3.47 children born/woman (1993 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)
 total population:
  80%
 male:
  88%
 female:
  73%
Labor force:
  650,000
 by occupation:
  industry, commerce, and services 79%, agriculture 11%, government 10% (1985)

*Lebanon, Government

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)
Constitution:
  26 May 1926 (amended)
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
National holiday:
  Independence Day, 22 November (1943)
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
Suffrage:   21 years of age; compulsory for all males; authorized for women at age 21
  with elementary education
Elections:
 National Assembly:
  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
Executive branch:
  president, prime minister, Cabinet; 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
Legislative branch:
  unicameral National Assembly (Arabic - Majlis Alnuwab, French - Assemblee
  Nationale)
Judicial branch:
  four Courts of Cassation (three courts for civil and commercial cases and
  one court for criminal cases)
Leaders:
 Chief of State:
  President Ilyas HARAWI (since 24 November 1989)
 Head of Government:
  Prime Minister Rafiq HARIRI (since 22 October 1992)

*Lebanon, Government

Member of:
  ABEDA, AFESD, AL, AMF, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
  ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU,
  LORCS, NAM, OIC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNRWA, UPU, WFTU,
  WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in US:
 chief of mission:
  Ambassador Simon KARAM
 chancery:
  2560 28th Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
 telephone:
  (202) 939-6300
 consulates general:
  Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles
US diplomatic representation:
 chief of mission:
  Ambassador Ryan C. CROCKER
 mailing embassy:
  Antelias, Beirut
 address:
  P. O. Box 70-840, Beirut, or Box B, FPO AE 09836
 telephone:
  [961] 417774 or 415802, 415803, 402200, 403300
Flag:
  three horizontal bands of red (top), white (double width), and red with a
  green and brown cedar tree centered in the white band

*Lebanon, Economy

Overview:
  Since 1975 civil war has 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. Following October
  1990, however, 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 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. Hope for restoring economic
  momentum in 1993 rests with the new, business-oriented Prime Minister
  HARIRI.
National product:
  GDP - exchange rate conversion - $4.8 billion (1991 est.)
National product real growth rate:
  NA%
National product per capita:
  $1,400 (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
  100% (1992 est.)
Unemployment rate:
  35% (1991 est.)
Budget:
  revenues $533 million; expenditures $1.3 billion, including capital
  expenditures of $NA (1991 est.)
Exports:
  $490 million (f.o.b., 1991)
 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:
  $3.7 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
 commodities:
  Consumer goods, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products
 partners:
  Italy 14%, France 12%, US 6%, Turkey 5%, Saudi Arabia 3%
External debt:
  $400 million (1992 est.)
Industrial production:
  growth rate NA%
Electricity:
  1,300,000 kW capacity; 3,413 million kWh produced, 990 kWh per capita (1992)
Industries:
  banking, food processing, textiles, cement, oil refining, chemicals,
  jewelry, some metal fabricating
Agriculture:
  accounts for about one-third of GDP; principal products - citrus fruits,
  vegetables, potatoes, olives, tobacco, hemp (hashish), sheep, goats; not
  self-sufficient in grain

*Lebanon, Economy

Illicit drugs:
  illicit producer of opium, hashish, and heroin for the international drug
  trade; opium poppy production in Al Biqa almost completely eradicated this
  year; hashish production is shipped to Western Europe, Israel, US, the
  Middle East, and South America
Economic aid:
  US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $356 million; Western (non-US)
  countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $664 million; OPEC
  bilateral aid (1979-89), $962 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $9
  million
Currency:
  1 Lebanese pound (#L) = 100 piasters
Exchange rates:
  Lebanese pounds (#L) per US$1 - 1,742.00 (April 1993), 1,712.80 (1992),
  928.23 (1991), 695.09 (1990), 496.69 (1989), 409.23 (1988)
Fiscal year:
  calendar year

*Lebanon, Communications

Railroads:
  system in disrepair, considered inoperable
Highways:
  7,300 km total; 6,200 km paved, 450 km gravel and crushed stone, 650 km
  improved earth
Pipelines:
  crude oil 72 km (none in operation)
Ports:
  Beirut, Tripoli, Ra'Sil'ata, Juniyah, Sidon, Az Zahrani, Tyre, Jubayl,
  Shikka Jadidah
Merchant marine:
  63 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 270,505 GRT/403,328 DWT; includes 39
  cargo, 1 refrigerated cargo, 2 vehicle carrier, 3 roll-on/roll-off, 1
  container, 9 livestock carrier, 2 chemical tanker, 1 specialized tanker, 4
  bulk, 1 combination bulk
Airports:
 total:
  9
 usable:
  8
 with permanent-surface runways:
  6
 with runways over 3,659 m:
  0
 with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
  3
 with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
  2
Telecommunications:
  telecommunications system severely damaged by civil war; rebuilding still
  underway; 325,000 telephones (95 telephones per 1,000 persons); domestic
  traffic carried primarily by microwave radio relay and a small amount of
  cable; international traffic by satellite - 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth
  station and 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station (erratic operations),
  coaxial cable to Syria; microwave radio relay to Syria but inoperable beyond
  Syria to Jordan, 3 submarine coaxial cables; broadcast stations - 5 AM, 3
  FM, 13 TV (numerous AM and FM stations are operated sporadically by various
  factions)

*Lebanon, Defense Forces

Branches:
  Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF; including Army, Navy, and Air Force)
Manpower availability:
  males age 15-49 798,299; fit for military service 495,763 (1993 est.)
Defense expenditures:
  exchange rate conversion - $271 million, 8.2% of GDP (1992 budget)