Ethnic Groups
 Syria’s population is fairly cohesive by heritage, but the different religious and ethnic communities have kept their identities. Arabic people represent 90% of the population; the rest is comprised of Kurds, Armenians, and others. As for religious affiliation, the Sunni Muslim group takes 74%; the Shi'a, Alawite, Druze and other Muslims make up about 16%; and the Christians represent 10% of the population. The Christians are mostly Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, or Greek Catholic. There are tiny Jewish communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo. Arabic is spoken by most, but the sizable Kurdish and Armenian populations have kept their languages.
The Alawites represent about 2 million people in Syria and most subsist on agriculture. President Bashar al-Assad—like his late father Hafez—is Alawite, as are most members of his parliament.
The geographic distribution of the different groups of people in Syria follows a historical past, with the Syrian Arabs being dominant in the western and central areas. Towards the east lives most of the Kurdish population. The mountainous regions and valleys are populated largely by Christians. The Druze concentrate in the south, while most Armenians live in Aleppo.
Political Refugees
Syria has an increasingly large refugee problem. Refugees to Syria are mainly from two countries: Palestine (approximately 500,000, over 3% of Syria’s population) and Iraq (est. over 1 million as of February 2005). The Iraqi refugees have been entering Syria more than any other country in the region since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. And it is reported that every month, the arrival rate gets higher. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) estimates that 40,000–50,000 Iraqis were fleeing their homes every month in 2006 and notes the difficulty host countries have in coping with such an influx. The agency reports that of those Iraqi refugees who have entered Syria, 30% of Iraqi children are not attending school.
The refugee problem in Syria is causing rents to soar, schools to become overcrowded, and real estate values to spiral upward. Some of the wealthier Iraqi refugees have bought property in Damascus and built large homes. Real estate prices in the area rose 50% in 2004, seemingly as a result of the influx. Crime and health problems are also rising in slum areas where refugees have settled, mainly around Damascus. Many refugee children cannot find a place in the public schools and are forced to live on the street, leading to further problems.
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