references: Middle East

Area:
total: 10,400 sq km
land: 10,230 sq km
water: 170 sq km

Area-comparative: about 0.7 times the size of Connecticut

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

Coastline: 225 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm

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

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Jabal al Makmal 3,087 m

Natural resources: limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a
water-deficit region

Land use:
arable land: 21%
permanent crops: 9%
permanent pastures: 1%
forests and woodland: 8%
other: 61% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 860 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: dust storms, 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

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

Geography-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

@Lebanon:People

Population: 3,505,794 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (male 532,688; female 512,979)
15-64 years: 64% (male 1,060,903; female 1,174,236)
65 years and over: 6% (male 102,946; female 122,042) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.62% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 22.66 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 6.51 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.9 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 31.64 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.64 years
male: 68.08 years
female: 73.33 years (199