ps: 9%
meadows and pastures: 1%
forest and woodland: 8%
other: 61%

Irrigated land: 860 sq km (1989 est.)

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

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: 3,695,921 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 36% (female 657,403; male 682,757)
15-64 years: 58% (female 1,131,450; male 1,016,859)
65 years and over: 6% (female 111,585; male 95,867) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.15% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 27.9 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 6.44 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 38 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.69 years
male: 67.22 years
female: 72.28 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.31 children born/woman (1995 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 est.)
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

Dig