Charts

Since the start of the conflict, the average wealth and the median wealth of Syrian adult citizens have decreased by some 80 percent each, according to a recent report on global wealth. Compared with figures from 2000, wealth and median wealth per adult in 2020 decreased by 48 percent and 57 percent, respectively, while debt surged by 76 percent.

This chart covers the production of the two crops between 2000 and 2020, as well as how each was affected due to the conflict, climatic factors, and the lack of government support.

Gold is traditionally an important means of savings for many Syrian households. With rising inflation over the past years, which reduced the value of cash holdings, the precious metal gained additional importance. This chart covers the price of gold in Syria between February 2011 and December 2021.

The Damascus Securities Exchange is the only market in Syria for the trade of securities and bonds. The DSE initiated the trading of securities in March 2009, though it was formally established in 2006. The exchange listed six companies at its launch, but today gathers a total of twenty-seven.

Prior to the conflict, Syria was one of the most visited countries in the Middle East. In 2010, 9,456,622 tourists travelled to the country, among which 6,281,525 (66 percent) were Arabs and 3,175,097 were non-Arabs (34 percent). In 2019, the number of non-Arab tourists was slightly above 200,000 (8 percent), while the number of Arab tourists amounted to 2,219,626 (92 percent), for a total of 2,424,285 tourists.

Wheat and barley are staples of Syria’s agricultural sector and represent the country's most strategic crops, comprising 95 percent of the total agricultural output prior to the Syrian conflict. As such, wheat and barley are highly subsidised as the government traditionally buys them from local farmers at a rate higher than world prices. 

Since January 2011, the price of a litre of gasoline, a litre of diesel, and a 10-kg cooking gas cylinder increased from SYP 44, 20, and 250 to SYP 750, 500, and 9,700 (or by 1,605, 2,400, and 3,780 percent), respectively.

According to the UN Comtrade, Syria’s foreign trade in 2019 and 2020 amounted to USD 6,854,767,285 and USD 572,837,4120, respectively.

Between September 2020 and May 2021, Syria witnessed its driest growing season since 2013/14, while the northeast (Hassakeh, Deir-ez-Zor, Raqqa) faced its driest growing season in more than a decade.

According to the latest figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, inflation in Syria stood at 163.1 percent in 2020.

By the end of 2020, the number of displaced Syrians reached 13,257,582, including 6,568,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 6,689,582 UN-registered refugees.

In September 2021, the number of positive cases went from 87,835 to 134,402, which represents a 53 percent increase in a single month.

During the years leading to the Syrian conflict, trade between Syria and Jordan was at an all-time high, reaching USD 671,598,272 in 2007. 

After reaching peak traffic in 2009 at 621,377 TEUs, activity in the Lattakia Port decreased significantly due to the start of the Syrian conflict, reaching its lowest point in 2013 at 194,179 TEUs.