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Syria Population
The 1981 census, the last official count for which full
details were available in early 1987, showed a population of
8,996,000, not including approximately 340,000 beduin and some
263,000 Palestinian refugees. The growth rate was calculated at
about 3.35 percent a year.
According to Syrian government reports available in 1987, the
population in mid-1986 was 10,612,000 and was growing at an
annual rate of 3.36 percent. Various international agencies and
United States government sources, however, estimated the annual
rate of population increase at between 3.7 and 3.8 percent, one
of the highest in the world, and calculated the population at
between 10,310,000 and 10,500,000.
Both the 1970 and the 1981 censuses suggest that men
outnumber women by over 4 percent, but this statistic must be
viewed from the perspective of some sociological and biological
factors characteristic of the area. Chief among these are the
underreporting of women, particularly unmarried women, and the
high mortality rate among women of childbearing age.
The 1970 census indicated that there were 104.6 men to every
100 women. The corresponding ratio in 1986 was estimated at 104.2
men to 100 women. A regional analysis of the sex ratio according
to official 1986 population estimates shows that in the southern
provinces of Al Qunaytirah, As Suwayda, and Dar'a, provinces
close to the Israeli border, the ratio of men to women is equal.
These ratios illustrate the probable decline of males in refugee
groups that have men involved in military operations or otherwise
separated from their families. The ratio of males is higher in
urban than in rural areas. In the cities of Damascus, Latakia,
and Aleppo, there are, respectively, 197, 105, and 108 men per
100 women. However, women outnumber men in the rural areas of
Aleppo Province, and in rural Al Hasakah, As Suwaydah, and Dar'a.
This imbalance occurs at least in part because males go to the
cities in search of employment, leaving the women and children in
the villages.
Syria's rapid population growth is reflected in the
youthfulness of its population. Age-related data from Syria's
1986 population estimate indicated that about 49 percent of the
population was under 15 years old, and 36 percent was under 10
years old. An analysis of the same data showed that the
proportion of people of working age (15 to 59 years) was just
over 44 percent of the total. Therefore, the working population
supported a large number of inactive youths, to which were added
elderly dependents or retirees over the age of 60, whose numbers
were slowly rising because of improved health conditions.
Data as of April 1987
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