The Facts -- New Internationalist

new internationalist
issue 258 - August 1994

B E I R U T - T H E F A C T S
Beirut is Lebanon in a nutshell. One-third of the population of the country lives in the
capital, and 800,000 more commute in every day. Today, it is Lebanon's showpiece,
its shopfront, where most of the post-war rebuilding is being concentrated.¹

NOW

THE ECONOMY
Between 1990 and 1992:

Industrial exports increased from $190 million to $420 million

Construction permits increased from 2,180 to 10,745

Passengers passing through Beirut airport have increased from 709,000 to 1,043,000

Electricity production increased from 1,394 to 4,033 million kilowatts

The number of ships coming to Beirut's port increased from 671 to 3,054

Horizon 2000 is a ten-year plan for rebuilding Lebanon which will cost $29 billion

THE PEOPLE

90,000 families are still internal refugees; several hundred thousand are still living abroad

A minimum of 350,000 Palestinians have no hope of citizenship either in Lebanon or in a new Palestinian state

Unemployment has risen from 5.5% before the war to 35% today

Private income: the richest fifth of the population receive 55% of private income while the poorest fifth receive only 4%

EDUCATION

Teachers went on strike this year to protest about the Government's strategy on wages

Literacy: because they missed out on education during the war, 382,300 people, or 20% of the population aged 20 and above are illiterate ³

Government schools are under-funded. There are not enough state schools to cater for the whole school population

The gap is sometimes filled by confessional groups; many children would not go to school if it were not for privately-funded Islamic education

ENVIRONMENT

The Government has set up a Ministry for the Environment - but this is still very weak and a range of new legislation is needed

The water table and most of the natural springs have been polluted - large numbers of illegal wells were dug during the war

Solid and also toxic waste has been dumped into the sea

Air pollution in Beirut is among the highest in the world

Deforestation - including the mountain cedars which are the Lebanon's national emblem - has left only 3% of the country forested, compared with 18% in the 1950s, though reforestation is now beginning

Improper use of fertilizers has rendered some previously fertile areas of the Beq'aa valley infertile due to soil salination

AND DURING THE WAR...

THE ECONOMY

The budget deficit rose from 21.8% in 1975 to 81.1% in 1986

In 1980 one US$ bought 3.4 Lebanese pounds. In 1992 this had increased to 1,730 pounds to the $

Gross Domestic Product declined from 8.1 billion Lebanese pounds in 1974 to 3.8 billion in 1986

Income per head of the population fell from $1,869 in 1974 to $979 in 1985

Inflation rose from 23.7% in 1980 to 620% in 1987

THE PEOPLE

At least 360,000 people (14% of the population) had at least one member of their family killed, wounded or kidnapped during the war:

Dead 125,000

Wounded 250,000

Missing 174,152

Internal refugees: 1.46 million - more than half the population - between 1975 and 1987

Migration: 637,254 people, mostly professionals or skilled labourers, left the country between 1975 and 1987. Nearly one-quarter of all Lebanese were abroad at some point during the war

180,000 household units were destroyed during the war, and as many were seriously damaged

EDUCATION

There was not a single year during the war in which most schools did not have to close due to fighting and shelling - many acted as refugee centres for long periods

To ensure that pupils covered the basic subjects during these closures, those considered less important, like art, history, geography and sport were skipped

In 1982 50% of schools were private - today these are too expensive for the majority of the population

Universities split and catered for different confessions; courses with any 'political' content had to be taught in Cyprus

NOW: THE BASICS

The population of Lebanon rose from 2.4 million in 1972 to 3.7 million in 1993
The population of Beirut is 1.2 million
Life expectancy is 65
The under-five mortality rate is 44 in 1,000
The total land area is similar to that of Wales
The main language is Arabic
The dominant religions are Christianity (mainly Maronite) and Islam - Shi'a Sunni and Druze

Notes:
1. All information either from authors of articles, or from Theodor Hanf Coexistence in wartime Lebanon, Centre for Lebanese Studies/IB Tauris 1993, except where otherwise indicated.
2. Beirut Police Department, quoted in The Guardian 11.3.92.
3. Quoted in the Ecumenical Popular Education Newsletter, February 1994.