- People
Population: 3,339,331 (July 1990), growth rate 1.3% (1990)

Birth rate: 28 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 8 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 49 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 70 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 3.7 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Lebanese (sing., pl.); adjective--Lebanese

Ethnic divisions: 93% Arab, 6% Armenian, 1% other

Religion: 75% Islam, 25% Christian, NEGL% Judaism; 17 legally recognized
sects--4 Orthodox Christian (Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Nestorean,
Syriac Orthodox), 7 Uniate Christian (Armenian Catholic, Caldean, Greek
Catholic, Maronite, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Syrian Catholic), 5 Islam
(Alawite or Nusayri, Druze, Ismailite, Shia, Sunni), and 1 Jewish

Language: Arabic and French (both official); Armenian, English

Literacy: 75%

Labor force: 650,000; 79% industry, commerce, and services,
11% agriculture, 10% goverment (1985)

Organized labor: 250,000 members (est.)

- Government
Note: Between early 1975 and late 1976 Lebanon was torn by civil
war between its Christians--then aided by Syrian troops--and its Muslims
and their Palestinian allies. The cease-fire established in October
1976 between the domestic political groups generally held for about six
years, despite occasional fighting. Syrian troops constituted as the Arab
Deterrent Force by the Arab League have remained in Lebanon. Syria's
move toward supporting the Lebanese Muslims and the Palestinians and
Israel's growing support for Lebanese Christians brought the two sides
into rough equilibrium, but no progress was made toward national
reconciliation or political reforms--the original cause of the war.

Continuing Israeli concern about the Palestinian presence in
Lebanon led to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. Israeli
forces occupied all of the southern portion of the country and mounted a
summer-long siege of Beirut, which resulted in the evacuation of the
PLO from Beirut in September under the supervision of a multinational
force (MNF) made up of US, French, and Italian troops.

Within days of the departure of the MNF, Lebanon's newly elected
president, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated. In the wake of his death,
Christian militiamen massacred hundreds of Palestinian refugees in two
Beirut camps. This prompted the