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Lebanon

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Lebanon

DATE OF FORMATION: 1941

POPULATION: 3.7 million

DENSITY: 937 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: Arabic, French, Armenian, Assyrian

RELIGIONS: Muslim 70%, Christian 30%

ETHNIC MIX: Arab 94%, Armenian 4%, Other 2%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Lebanese pound

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Lebanon lives in the shadow of its powerful neighbors, Syria and Israel. The coastal strip is fertile and the hinterland mountainous. The minority Maronite Christians have traditionally dominated the government. Civil war between Muslim and Christian factions from 1975, complicated by an Israeli invasion in 1982, threatened a breakup of the state, until Saudi Arabia brokered a peace deal in 1989. Greater political stability and reconstruction have ensued.