Syrian Arab Republic

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Syria
flag_Syria.png
Flag of Syria
Population (In Millions) 20.45
Human Development Index 119/169
Gross Domestic Product (In USD Billions - World Bank) 59.15
Global Peace Index 116/153
Happy Planet Index 38/143
Social Institutions and Gender Index 75/86
Environmental Performance Index 56/163
Child Mortality Rate 13.8
More information on variables


Contents

Demographics

Syria has a population of 26,515,919 according to the World Bank 2010 data. [1]90% of Syrians are Muslims while about 10% follow Christianity. [2] The Syrian population is characterized by a young age structure where 35.2% of the population is below 15 years of age. [3]

Syrians are mainly of Arab origin besides a small population of Kurds and Armenians. Arabic is the official language of the country. [4]


Multidimensional Poverty Index

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for Syrian Arab Republic is 0.021. The MPI is an international measure of acute poverty covering 109 countries. The MPI reflects the multiple deprivations that poor people face at the same time in three dimensions: health, education and living standards. The MPI reflects both the incidence or headcount ratio (H) of poverty – the proportion of the population that is multidimensionally poor – and the average intensity (A) of their poverty – the average proportion of indicators in which poor people are deprived. More information on the MPI in Syrian Arab Republic is available here.

UNDP Human Development Report Trends - 2010

The Human Development Index is a composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development- a long healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living; intended to capture the essential dimensions of the quality of human life or human development. According to the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report 2010, Syria was ranked 111th out of 169 countries ranked in the world. With an HDI of 0.589 in 2010, Syria's score is broken down as follows:

Health: 0.865 (life expectancy at birth of 74.6 years)

Education: 0.455 (mean years of schooling, 4.9)

Income: 0.519 (GNI per capita 2008 PPP US$ 4,857)[5]


Progress and the Arab Spring

The Arab Spring - a term that was inspired by Europe’s le Printemps des peuples or le Printemps des révolutions - refers to the wave of protests that started in Tunisia in December 2010 and expanded to other North-African and Middle-Eastern countries. Although the nature of the uprisings has varied from protests to revolution, all nations involved in the Spring are reacting to degrading socio-economic and political conditions in the MENA region.
Key nations involved in the Arab Spring include:

Protests of smaller sizes having media coverage also took place in Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman & Kuwait. Many of the countries involved in the Arab Spring showed a steady increase in GDP over the last five to ten years while their well-being indices were decreasing.[6]

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With this respect, the Arab Human Development Report (2009) also highlights how the widespread absence of human security in Arab countries undermines people’s options. The report argues that security in the Arab countries is often threatened by unjust political, social, and economic structures; by competition for power and resources among fragmented social groups. [7]

See the 2009 Arab Human Development Report here.

For each nation involved in the Arab Spring, Wikiprogress is showcasing a number of key indices, inspired by the OECD Better Life Initiative – Compendium of Well-Being Indicators, to reflect a variety of dimensions of progress.
This Compendium represents one of the first attempts to respond to the demand for comparative information on the conditions of people's lives in developed market economies. Previous contributions in this field have focused on the conditions of poorer countries and on a more narrow range of dimensions (e.g. Human Development Index).[8]


Material living conditions

Income and wealth

According to the 2011 Global Peace Index (GPI), Syria’s GDP per capita is 2500 US$ [9]compared to 2260 US$ in 2010  SyriaSparkline.PNG according to the same source.

According to the Library of Congress Research Division, the agriculture sector historically accounted for the largest share of GDP, but it has been displaced by services and by mining and manufacturing. In 2003, agriculture accounted for 28.5% of GDP, industry for 29.4%, and services for 42.1%. [10]

Jobs and earnings

The World Bank database does not include data on unemployment in Syria. But, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, as reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Syria’s unemployment rate is 8.3% compared to 9.2% in 2010 SyriaSparkline2.PNG. [11]However, according the Library of Congress Research Division, about 70% of Syria’s workforce earns less than US$100 per month and, each year, more than 200,000 new job seekers enter the Syrian job market, but the economy has not been able to absorb them. [12]

Housing

While the OECD uses the number of rooms and dwellings with basic facilities as indicators to measure housing satisfaction, no similar indicators are used for developing countries. Data on Syria has not been found with respect to this subject. Data sources to help understand this topic are welcomed.

Quality of life

Health status

Syria had a steady Life Expectancy between 2006 and 2009. It was always 74 years during that period, according to the 2009 World Bank database. [13]Total expenditures on health per capita is as low as 138 US$ per capita as reported in 2009 by the Global Health Observatory. [14]

Work and life balance

Data has not been found on the time Syrians devote to leisure and personal care. Data sources to help understand this topic are welcomed.

Education and skills

Syria’s literacy rate is as high as 84%, according to the World Bank 2009 data. [15]However, public expenditures on education were decreasing. In 2011, they amounted to about 4.84 % of the Gross domestic product (GDP) according to the Global Peace Index, as reported from UNESCO, compared to 15% in 2007 SyriaSparkline3.PNG. [16]

According the Library of Congress Research Division, six years of primary school for children ages 6–11 are free and compulsory, and enrolment is near 100%  for both boys and girls. Most education is state provided, but legislation passed in 2001 allows the establishment of some private schools and colleges. [17]

Other figures:

Social connections

In 2010, the Arab Media Influence Report (AMIR I) reported that the number of Arab individuals reclaiming authority over their lives, freedom & liberty and trends in using social media is increasing. [21]In 2011, AMIR II reported that a huge growth in Social Media usage since AMIR I was a “catalyst” in the Arab Spring. Their findings included the following:

However, specific data on Syria has not been found on this subject. Data sources to help understand this topic are welcomed.

Civic engagement and governance

Democracy and transparency

According to the 2011 Global Peace Index data, Syria’s global peace rank is 116 out of 153 countries. [23]It was given a status of “Not Free” by the Freedom House since it is not an electoral democracy. According to their Freedom in the World – Syria report, the Syrian regime cultivated a base of support that spanned sectarian and ethnic divisions, but relied on Alawite domination of the security establishment and the suppression of dissent. [24]

Syria had a very low Political Participation ranking of 1.7/10 as reported by the EIU Democracy Index and a high Level of Disrespect to Human Rights ranking of 3.0/5.0, according to the Global Peace Index report. [25]

In its 2011 report on Syria, Amnesty International reported that the Syrian authorities remained intolerant of dissent. According to the same report, those who criticized the government, including human rights defenders, faced arrest and imprisonment after unfair trials, and bans from travelling abroad. Some were prisoners of conscience. [26]

According to Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index [The Corruption Perception Index draws on multiple expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption scoring countries on a scale from 0 - 10, with 0 indicating high levels of perceived corruption and 10 indicating low levels of perceived corruption],Syria scores 2.4/10, making it a highly corrupt country.[27]

Civil Society

The Freedom House gives Syria a score of 2.2 out of 5 based on its Political Rights and Civic Voice indicator. [28]According to the Amnesty International 2011 report on Syria, Human rights NGOs and opposition political parties were denied legal authorization. They could not obtain licenses to operate, exposing members who are lawyers to disciplinary action by the government-controlled Bar Association. [29]

When it comes to women’s political participation, according to a special report on women in the Middle-East, conducted by the Freedom House, the female voice has little influence in Syria, either as a voting bloc or as individual candidates and activists. However, women have a degree of influence within economic organisations, accounting for around a fifth of the membership of trade unions and professional associations. [30]

See the Gender Equality in Syria page on Wikigender.

Environmental quality

According to the World Bank data, Syria’s CO2 emissions (kt) have increased between 2006 and 2007. It went from 64,295.9 kt to 69,835.8kt  SyriaSparkline4.PNG making air highly polluted. [31]

Personal security

According to the Global Peace Index, the number of homicides per 100,000 people in Syria is 2, and the number of internal security officers and police per the same portion of population is 3. [32]However, no national or international statistics were found on the number of intentional homicides or self-reported victimisation, the two being the indicators OECD uses to measure personal security in OECD countries.

In 2009, the Arab Human Development Report (AHDR), a wide study on security in the Arab World as a whole, argues that the trend in the region has been to focus more on the security of the state than on the security of the people. [33]It also draws attention to a multitude of threats which cut across different aspects of human development in the region, highlighting the need for an integrated approach to advancing development, security, good governance and human rights. [34]

However, specific data on Syria was not found. Data sources to help understand this topic are welcomed.

Subjective well-being

According to the Gallup Centre, indices related to well-being have, in general, shown a sharp decline in the last five years. [35]Specific data on Syria with respect to subjective well-being was not found. Data sources to help understand this topic are welcomed.

Official Statistics

National Statistical Office (In progress)

Happiness in Syria

This is an overview of findings on Happiness in Syria.The available findings are presented in the latest ‘Nation Report’ on Syria. This report is ordered by type of happiness questions and within these types by year. This ordering is to facilitate the assessment of progress, comparison over time being most fruitful using the same questions.
The report presents means and standard deviations, both on the original scale range and transformed to a common range 0-10. The means inform about the level of happiness in the country and the standard deviations about inequality of happiness.
Links provide more detail about the precise text of the question, the full distribution of responses and technical details of the survey. The report is continuously updated.

See also


References

  1. ↑ World Bank Data (2010), World Bank, Washington DC, USA. Full data available here
  2. ↑ CIA World Factbook – Syria (2011). Full Syria page available here
  3. ↑ World Bank Data (2010), World Bank, Washington DC, USA. Full data available here
  4. ↑ CIA World Factbook – Syria (2011). Full Syria page available here
  5. ↑ United Nations Development Programme. International Human Development Indicators - UNDP. 2010. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/SYR.html (accessed March 9, 2011).
  6. ↑ Clifton J. and Morales L. (2011), Egyptians', Tunisians' Wellbeing Plummets Despite GDP Gains: Traditional economic indicators paint an incomplete picture of life in these countries, The Gallup Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Full article here
  7. ↑ UNDP (2009), Arab Human Development Report: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries, New York, USA. Full report available here
  8. ↑ The OECD Better Life Initiative: Compendium of OECD Better Life Initiatives (2011), OECD, Paris, France. Full report here
  9. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  10. ↑ Library of Congress Research Division (2005), Syria Country Profile, Washington DC, USA. Full country profile available here
  11. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  12. ↑ Library of Congress Research Division (2005), Syria Country Profile, Washington DC, USA. Full country profile available here
  13. ↑ World Bank Data (2010), World Bank, Washington DC, USA. Full data available here
  14. ↑ WHO Global Health Observatory (2009), WHO Representation, Damascus, Syria. Full Syria page here
  15. ↑ World Bank Data (2010), World Bank, Washington DC, USA. Full data available here
  16. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  17. ↑ Library of Congress Research Division (2005), Syria Country Profile, Washington DC, USA. Full country profile available here
  18. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  19. ↑ World Bank Data (2010), World Bank, Washington DC, USA. Full data available here
  20. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  21. ↑ Al Tarzi F. (2011), Arab Media Influence Report II, News Group International, UAE. Full report available here
  22. ↑ Al Tarzi F. (2011), Arab Media Influence Report II, News Group International, UAE. Full report available here
  23. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  24. ↑ Map of Freedom in the World 2011 (2011), The Freedom House – Syria Country Report, Washington DC, USA. Full report available here
  25. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  26. ↑ Amnesty International (2011), Annual Report 2011: the state of the world’s human rights – Syria special country report, London, United Kingdom. Full report available here
  27. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  28. ↑ The Freedom House (2010), Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa - A special report on Syria, The Freedom House, Washington DC, USA. Full report available here
  29. ↑ Amnesty International (2011), Annual Report 2011: the state of the world’s human rights – Syria special country report, London, United Kingdom. Full report available here
  30. ↑ The Freedom House (2010), Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa - A special report on Syria, The Freedom House, Washington DC, USA. Full report available here
  31. ↑ World Bank Data (2010), World Bank, Washington DC, USA. Full data available here
  32. ↑ Global Peace Index Report (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace, New York, USA. Full report available here
  33. ↑ UNDP (2009), Arab Human Development Reprot: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries, New York, USA. Full report available here
  34. ↑ UNDP (2009), Arab Human Development Report: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries, New York, USA. Full report available here
  35. ↑ Clifton J. and Morales L. (2011), Egyptians', Tunisians' Wellbeing Plummets Despite GDP Gains: Traditional economic indicators paint an incomplete picture of life in these countries, The Gallup Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Full article available here
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