st not
crossing an international boundary; rugged terrain historically helped
isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion,
clan, and ethnicity

People Lebanon

Population: 3,677,780 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 27.3% (male 511,902; female 491,804) 15-64
years: 65.9% (male 1,157,688; female 1,267,106) 65 years and over: 6.8%
(male 113,341; female 135,939) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.36% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 19.96 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 6.35 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.83 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 27.39 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: 74.32 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 2.02 children born/woman (2002 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.09% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA

Nationality: noun: Lebanese (singular and plural) adjective: Lebanese

Ethnic groups: Arab 95%, Armenian 4%, other 1%

Religions: Muslim 70% (including Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite,
Alawite or Nusayri), Christian 30% (including Orthodox Christian,
Catholic, Protestant), Jewish NEGL%

Languages: Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total
population: 86.4% male: 90.8% female: 82.2% (1997 est.)

Government Lebanon

Country name: conventional long form: Lebanese Republic conventional
short form: Lebanon local short form: Lubnan local long form: Al
Jumhuriyah al Lubnaniyah

Government type: republic

Capital: Beirut

Administrative divisions: 6 governorates (mohafazat, singular -
mohafazah); Beyrouth, Beqaa, Liban-Nord, Liban-Sud, Mont-Liban, Nabatiye

Independence: 22 November 1943 (from League of Nations mandate under
French administration)

National holiday: Independence Day, 22 November (1943)

Constitution: 23 May 1926, amended a number of times, most recently
Charter of Lebanese National Reconciliation (Ta'if Accord) of October 1989

Legal system: mixture of Ottoman law, canon law, Napoleonic code,
and civil law; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted
compulso