Surface: 1.759.540 km²
Population: 4.509.000 inhabitants
Density of population: 2.4 inhabitants/km²
Capital: Tripoli
Official language: Arabian
Official currency: dinar
Imported products: alimentary products, construction materials, consume goods
Exported products: brut petroleum, pets, olive oil, leather
Brut Intern Product: 26.244 million $
State type: popular republic

Geographical Characteristics:
93% of Libya's surface is an arid plateau. Jabal al Akhdar mountains in NE separate the coast plain from the interior of the country. Gefara plain, next to Tripoli is surounded by Jabal Nafusaf mountains. In the south of Jabal Nafusaf mountains there are plateaus and a big surface of sand between the border with Algeria and Sabbah. In Libya there is a few water on the surf ace and there are no permanent rivers. Instead there are many underground waters.

Climate:
The coast region has mediteranean conditions with few rain between october and march. The mountains are the most wet zones of the country with rainfall of 60 cm per year. After only 150 km from the coast region, interior the rainfall is under 10 cm per year and the desert has few rains. The medium temperature in Tripoli is 12 Celsius degrees in January and 26 Celsius degrees in July, and the rainfall is 37.5 cm per year. The numbers for the regions inside the country are 14 Celsius degrees, 35 Celsius degrees and under 5 cm per year.

Cultivated Plants :
13% of the people works in agriculture but only 1% of Libya's surface is cultivated. The only optimal regiones are Gefara plain nad the low regions of Jabal Nafusah mountains and Jabal al Akhdar mountains, the coast of the Cyrenaica half-isle and the oasis in interior. They cultivate olives, nuts, oranges, cereals, potatoes and almonds. In the mountains they cultivate fig-trees, grapes and fruit trees. Libya imports 75% of the food necesary.

Transports:
In Libya there are no railways only 25.675 km of roads. The main road is from Tripoli to Benghazi with extensions in Egypt and Tunisia. Another road is from Tripoli to Sabhah. There were built many roads to the petrolium fields and to the important oasis cities as Al Kufrah.

Population and Cities:
97% of the people have arabian or berberian origin and there are few greeks, malteses and other nations as tebu nomades and tuaregs in the south. 97% of the people are sunnits moslems. Most of the libyans live on the coast plain. Tripoli is the administrative, financial, comercial and industrial center. Benghazi is the second city as size and has an international airport. Misratah is a port and a regional comercial center.

Industry:
The industry was in a low level development before they discover the petrolium fields. The industries had raised from the revolution in 1969, especially petrolium, food, textiles, steel, cement and electricity industries. It is an important petrochemical industry in Ras Lanuf and steel industry in Misratah. An special place has the industries of olive oil, carpets, leather and paper production.

Petroleum:
The discovery of the petrolium fields in 1957 and later of the natural gas made Libya a rich country. The annual production of petroleum, aproximately 48 millions tones, made Libya the second great producer of petroleum in Africa after Nigeria. The petroleum also represents over 90% of exports. Thje main regions wich products it are in Zelten, Hofra, Sarir and Gialo. Libya is the second great producer of natural gas in Africa, after Algeria.

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Tags: tripoli, arabian, dinar, popular republic, jabal nafusaf mountains	[edit tags]

Date Added: 15 November '06

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