At the 1984 census, Libya had a population of 3,637,488. The 2001 estimated population was 5,240,599, giving the country an overall population density of 3 persons per sq km (8 per sq mi). The population, however, is unevenly distributed; more than two-thirds live in the more densely settled coastal areas.
Almost all Libyans speak Arabic, the country's official language, and adhere to the Sunnite branch of Islam. They claim descent from the Bedouin Arab tribes of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym, who invaded the Maghrib in the 11th century. In the eastern region the influence of the Sanusiyah, a 19th-century militant Islamic brotherhood, remains strong. Most of the Jewish and Italian minorities, long established in Tripolitania (the western region), left the country after the government seized their properties in 1970. Small numbers of Roman Catholic and Coptic Christians remain. The government's embrace of Arab nationalism has reduced Western influences, although English is still widely used as a second language in international business and politics. Nearly one-fifth of Libya's total population in the late 20th century was composed of foreign workers temporarily residing in the country. The tribe (qabilah) was for long the basis of the social order in Libya, and eight out of every nine persons once resided in tribal domains.
The Phoenicians founded colonies on the coast of Tripolitania, which were conquered by Carthage in the 6th century bc. Greeks subsequently established settlements in Cyrenaica. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century bc, described the Garamantes people of the Fezzan, who were sedentary farmers and used horse-drawn chariots in warfare. His account has been verified in the 20th century by ancient cave art, discovered in the Jabal Akakus (jabal means “mountains”) of the western Fezzan and the Jabal al ‘Uwaynat near the Egyptian border. Libya later became a Roman possession, until it was conquered by the Vandals in ad 455. After a reconquest by Byzantium in the following century, the region was won by the Arabs under Amr ibn al-As in 643.
The present borders of Libya contain a huge territory the size of the U.S. states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi combined. Largely desert with some limited potential for urban and sedentary life in its northwestern and northeastern corners, Libya has never been populous nor a power centre. Like its neighbour Algeria, Libya's very name is a neologism, created by the conquering Italians early in the 20th century. Like Algeria, much of Libya's earlier history—not only in the Islamic period but even before—reveals that both the western and eastern provinces were more closely linked with neighbouring territory, with Tunisia and Egypt respectively. Even during most of the Ottoman times the country was divided into two parts, one linked to Tripoli in the west and the other to Banghazi in the east.
Under Qaddafi’s leadership Libya took a much more active role not only in Arab affairs but also in international politics. Opposing the peace initiative toward Israel of Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat, Libya took a leading part, along with Syria, in the so-called rejectionist front in 1978. Its support for the Palestine Liberation Organization later expanded to barely concealed subsidies for terrorists in other nations, and in the early 1980s the regime was believed to be linked to a campaign of assassinations directed against Libyan dissidents residing abroad. During this same period, Libyan forces intervened in a civil war in neighboring Chad. A peace treaty with Chad was signed in 1989.
Libyan relations with the United States deteriorated in the early 1980s. In 1981 two Libyan fighter planes were shot down by U.S. Navy jets over the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed as territorial waters. In 1982 the United States imposed an embargo on Libyan oil imports. Another encounter in the Gulf of Sidra in March 1986 resulted in the destruction of two Libyan ships by U.S. Navy ships.
Cultural differences between the provinces are important. The population of the west is far more cosmopolitan than that of the east and includes a higher proportion of people with Berber, Sudanese African, and Turkish origins. Cyrenaica was profoundly affected by the teachings of the 19th-century Sanusiyah, an Islamic brotherhood, which had little influence in the west and south.
Since the 1969 coup, life-styles have been strongly influenced by the revolutionary government's restructuring of national and local government and its efforts to reduce the influence of traditional tribes. The government has also brought women out of traditional seclusion and into the mainstream of the revolutionary socialist society.
Libyan culture centres on folk art and traditions, which are highly influenced by Islam. The traditional arts of weaving, embroidery, metal engraving, and leatherwork rarely depict people or animals because of the Islamic prohibition against such representation. The dominant geometric and arabesque designs are best presented in the stucco and tiles of the Karamanli and Gurgi mosques of Tripoli. Surviving traditions are represented by festivals, horse races, and folk dances.
Nonreligious literature has developed largely since the 1960s; it is nationalistic in character but reveals Egyptian influences. The arts are supported by the government through the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Education and National Guidance, and the Al-Fikr Society, a group of intellectuals and professionals.
Libraries include the Government Library and the Archives in Tripoli, the Public Library in Banghazi, and the university libraries. The Department of Antiquities is responsible for the Archaeological Museum, the Leptis Magna Museum of Antiquities, the Natural History Museum, and the Sabratha Museum of Antiquities, all in the western region, and the archaeological sites of Ptolemais and Appolonia in the eastern region. The Sabha Museum contains exhibits of ancient remains of the former Fezzan region.
The indigenous population of Libya is mostly Berber and Arab in origin; about 17 percent of the population consists of foreign workers and their families. Some 87 percent of the people live in urban areas, although some Libyans still live in nomadic or seminomadic groups.
Libya is underlain by basement rocks of Precambrian age (from 3.8 to 570 million years old) that are mantled with marine and wind-borne deposits. The major physical features are the Nafusah Plateau and the Al-Jifarah (Gefara) Plain in the northwest, the Akhdar Mountains in the northeast, and the Saharan plateau, occupying much of the rest of the country.
The Al-Jifarah Plain covers about 10,000 square miles of Libya's northwestern corner. It rises from sea level to about 1,000 feet (300 metres) at the foothills of the Nafusah Plateau. Composed of sand dunes, salt marshes, and steppe, the plain contains most of Libya's population and its largest city Tripoli.
Most of Libya is either devoid of vegetation or supports only sparse growth. Date palms and olive and orange trees grow in the scattered oases, and junipers and mastic trees are found in the higher elevations. Wildlife includes desert rodents, hyena, gazelle, and wildcat. Eagles, hawks, and vultures are common.
Libya was traditionally an agricultural country, although farming was restricted primarily to the coastal regions. Livestock raising was also important. The discovery of petroleum in the late 1950s effected a profound change in the economy: The gross domestic product increased from $1.5 billion in 1965 to $25.4 billion in 1985, and between 1965 and 1980 the economy grew at an annual average of 4.2 percent. Declining petroleum revenues in the 1980s forced cutbacks in development programs, and per capita income declined by at least 25 percent, although gross domestic income was on the rise again in the 1990s. The estimated annual budget in the early 1990s included current revenues of $6.9 billion and current and capital expenditures of $8.6 billion.
Oil revenues are Libya's main source of income. During the 1980s, oil accounted for two-thirds of the national income and nearly 99 percent of export earnings, although it employed less than 10 percent of the labour force. The government exerts strong control over the economy. The petroleum industry was nationalized in the 1970s; state trade unions and industrial organizations run most other industries and utilities. To reduce the country's heavy dependence on oil, economic policy has emphasized agricultural and industrial development. Declining oil revenues during the 1980s, however, led to frequent revisions and delays in planned developments. In 1988, domestic reforms liberalized economic policy and encouraged private enterprise.
The socialist-oriented economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which contributes practically all export earnings and about one-quarter of GDP. These oil revenues and a small population give Libya one of the highest per capita GDPs in Africa, but little of this income flows down to the lower orders of society. In this statist society, import restrictions and inefficient resource allocations have led to periodic shortages of basic goods and foodstuffs. The nonoil manufacturing and construction sectors, which account for about 20% of GDP, have expanded from processing mostly agricultural products to include the production of petrochemicals, iron, steel, and aluminum. Climatic conditions and poor soils severely limit agricultural output, and Libya imports about 75% of its food requirements. Higher oil prices in 1999 and 2000 led to an increase in export revenues, which improved macroeconomic balances and helped to stimulate the economy. Following the suspension of UN sanctions in 1999, Libya has been trying to increase its attractiveness to foreign investors, and several foreign companies have visited in search of contracts.
Telecommunications system is being modernized; mobile cellular telephone system became operational in 1996
domestic: microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, cellular, tropospheric scatter, and a domestic satellite system with 14 earth stations
international: satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat, NA Arabsat, and NA Intersputnik; submarine cables to France and Italy; microwave radio relay to Tunisia and Egypt; tropospheric scatter to Greece; participant in Medarabtel (1999)
Islam is the state religion, and about 97 percent of all Libyans are Sunni Muslim. A small number are Roman Catholic. Arabic is the official language, although Berber is sometimes spoken and English and Italian are used in trade.
various Arab nationalist movements with almost negligible memberships may be functioning clandestinely, as well as some Islamic elements.
Libya is governed under a constitution adopted in 1977 by the General People’s Congress (GPC), the national legislature established in 1976. Power is delegated to the head of state, or revolutionary leader; the five members of the General Secretariat of the GPC; and the six members of the General People’s Committee. Civil, criminal, and commercial justice in Libya follows the Egyptian model. In 1979 judicial power in Libya came under the authority of the People’s Committee for Justice. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and several associate judges. Courts of first instance, summary courts, and courts of appeal also function.
International organization Member
ABEDA, AfDB, AFESD, AL, AMF, AMU, CAEU, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NAM, OAPEC, OAU, OIC, OPEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO.
Primary education in Libya is free and compulsory. Some 97 percent of the adult population is literate. In the 1993-1994 school year there were 1,357,040 pupils enrolled in primary schools, taught by 103,791 teachers. Students attending secondary, vocational, and teacher-training schools numbered 311,000. Libya’s five universities were attended annually in the early 1990s by almost 73,000 students.
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Command
Military manpower - military age: 17 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 1,459,400 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 866,012 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 61,694 (2001 est.)
Libya claims about 19,400 sq km in northern Niger and also a part of southeastern Algeria
