Fresh statistics have indicated that Syria’s population is estimated at 17,793,000 in 2004 compared with 13,782,000 in 2003, official source told al-Thawra daily newspaper Monday.
The sources said the average annual growth of population in Syria totaled 2.58% from 1994 to 2004, in comparison to 3.3% during the years 1981-1994.
The statistics unveiled a decrease in the average members of the Syrian family to 5.55 person for the year 2004 from 6.25 person, according to the pervious statistics.
As for the geographical distribution of the population, the statistics showed that a remarkable change has taken place in some governorates, particularly in Damascus due to the continued immigration to its suburb.
The statistics also added that the population of Aleppo governorate increased by 1.1% due to the internal immigration and the growing settlement in it, as well as in governorates like Deir al-Zour, Idlib, Raqa and Daraa which saw an increase in the number of inhabitants.
The preliminary results of the current statistics pointed out that the number of houses in Syria was 3,701,000 in 2004 compared to 2,566,000 in 1994.
The daily added that the percentage of occupied houses is estimated at 81.7% in 2004 compared to 80% in 1994. This means that the number of unoccupied houses totaled 512,000.
Meanwhile, results published by the Central Statistics Bureau on the Syrian family income and expenditure for the years 2003 and 2004 revealed that the monthly average expense of a Syrian family is 20,626 Syrian pounds on food and other products.
The average differs between the urban and rural areas, since it amounted in the urban centers to SP22,738 compared to SP18,112 in the suburbs.
Comparing the Syrian family monthly expenditure in 2004 with 1997, it showed that it increased to 20,626 in 2004 from 17,904 in 1997.
According to the study carried out by the State Planning Commission, in cooperation with the UN Development Program (UNDP), the poverty line is SP1,321 in 2004 compared to 1,113 in 1997.
The results showed that 90.1% of the Syrian populations are not poor. (menareport.com)
