Syria: population and cities
Population
According to Countryaah website, Syria has about 21 million residents; there are also around half a million Palestinian refugees. The population density is about 93 residents per km².
Compare
Federal Republic of Germany (81.9 million), Austria (8.3 million), USA (314.2 million), PR China (1.3 billion), India (1.2 billion) and Egypt with approx. 80.5 million residents.
Ethnic composition
Arabs (approx. 90%), Kurds, Armenians, Turkmens, Meshes and others (approx. 10%).
Religious affiliation
72% Sunni-Muslim, 12% Alawites, 10% Christian; 4% Druze, the rest: different
national languages
The national language is Arabic.
Capital and other cities
The capital of the Syrian Arab Republic is Damascus with a population of around 1.8 million. According to Abbreviation Finder, SYR stands for Syria in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.
Other cities are:
- Aleppo with approx. 2.1 million residents
- Homs with approx. 740,000 residents
- Latakia with approx. 440,000 residents
- Hama with approx. 350,000 residents
Compare
New York (8 million) in the USA,
Sao Paulo (> 17 million) in Brazil,
Berlin (3.4 million) in Germany,
London (7.2 million) in England and Great Britain,
Beijing (City 6 million) in China,
Mexico City in Mexico, the most populous city on earth (over 20 million),
Tokyo (11.8 million) in Japan.
Syria: geography, map
Syria consists of fertile plains, mountains and deserts. The Euphrates, which comes from Turkey, flows through the country for a length of 680 km and then flows further into Iraq. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Syria.
Area and land use
The Syrian Arab Republic covers an area of 185,180 km².
Thereof:
- Forestapprox. 4%
- Agricultureapprox. 30.5%Cotton, wheat, barley, fruit and vegetables as well as dates and olives are grown.
- Pasture areaapprox. 42%
- Othersapprox. 23.5%
National borders, length of coast
The total length of the borders is 2,253 km. The neighboring countries are:
in the north Turkey (822 km),
in the east Iraq (605 km),
in the south Jordan (375 km),
in the west Israel (76 km), Lebanon (375 km) and the Mediterranean Sea.
The length of the coast of Syria is around 190 km.
Tidal range in Syria
The tidal range on the Mediterranean coast is only about 40 cm, even in stormy weather.
For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.
Compare
The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax. On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.
Longitude and latitude
Syria extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):
Δφ = from around 32 ° to 37 ° north latitude Δλ = from around 035 ° to 042 ° east longitude |
You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.
Legal time
For Syria, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:
Δt (CET) = + 1 h |
Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.
The highest point of the sun in Damascus
Damascus lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 33.5 °.
If the sun is at the tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, summer will begin in Helsinki, June 21st. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):
33.5 ° = (90 ° – h) + 23.5 °
so:
H = 80 ° |
With 80 ° the sun in Damascus has the highest level of the whole year above the horizon (more precisely: the notch).
Mountains
The highest mountain in the country is the Jabal Ash-Shaykh (Mt. Hermon) with a height of 2,814 m.
Other high mountains are:
- Halîmah with a height of 2,463 m
- Djebel ad-Drus with a height of 1,735 m
- Jebel Qasyun with an altitude of 1,150 m.
Rivers
The longest river in the country is the Nahr al-Furad (Euphrates) with a total length of 2,880 km, of which 680 km in Syria. Other rivers in the country are:
- Nahr al khabur with a total length of 502 km, of which 402 km in Syria
- Orontes with a total length of 485 km, of which 366 km in Syria
- Chabur with a total length of 320.
Euphrates and Tigris
The Euphrates
The Euphrates flows from Turkey through Syria and further into Iraq, where it flows into the Persian Gulf in the Shatt al-Arab – the confluence with the Tigris – on the border between Iraq and Iran. The Euphrates is the largest river in the Middle East and has a length of around 3,380 km with its longer source river, the Murat, the second source river is the Karasu (black water). Both rivers have their source in Turkey in the mountains of eastern Anatolia. Both unite in the “Keban” dam and form the Euphrates, which is around 2,735 km long. legend has it that the garden of “Eden” was located here. In addition, the neighboring rivers Euphrates and Tigris are next to the Nile with the rivers with the oldest cultures on their banks or in their vicinity.
Tigris
The Tigris forms the border to Turkey for a few km in the extreme northeast. The Tigris rises and after about km flows into the Shatt al-Arab – the confluence with the Euphrates – on the border between Iraq and Iran in the Persian Gulf.
Lakes
The largest lake in Syria is Al-Assad with a size of 674 km². Other larger lakes are:
- Jabul with a size of 239 km²
- Quattineh with a size of 61 km².
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean covers an area of 2.5 million km². It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar, which is around 15 km wide at its narrowest point. And over the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosperus with the Black Sea. Its deepest point – the so-called Calypso Deep – at around 5,265 m is in the Ionian Sea south of the Greek Peloponnese peninsula.
In the Mediterranean there are two still active volcanoes, it is the approx. 916 m high Stromboli on the approx. 12.6 km² large island of the same name, which is part of the Aeolian Islands. In Sicily near Catania and Messina there is the approximately 3,323 m high Etna. The approx. 1,280 m high Vesuvius near Naples on the mainland, which was built in 79 AD. Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum is currently inactive – its last eruption occurred in 1944. Another outbreak must be expected.
The Mediterranean borders or belongs to Europe, Asia and Africa, which it not only divides but also connects with each other since ancient times.