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

People

Population: 3,562,699 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (male 535,596; female 515,776)
15-64 years: 64% (male 1,084,121; female 1,196,678)
65 years and over: 6% (male 105,133; female 125,395) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.61% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 22.5 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 6.45 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 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: 0.84 male(s)/female
total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (1999 est.)