Syria
The ongoing conflict in Syria continues to disrupt its telecommunications services. Frequent internet blackouts and reduced mobile network coverage persist due to significant damage to infrastructure from the war. Despite some recent improvements, a substantial portion of the population remains offline. As of early 2024, approximately 15.28 million Syrians, or 64.2% of the population, did not use or have access to the internet.
Internet governance
The country’s socio-political environment has significantly hindered Syria’s involvement in developing a digital ecosystem. The ongoing conflict and political instability have impeded the establishment of coherent and effective digital policies. This situation limits the country’s ability to harness digital technologies for economic and social development, leaving it behind in the global digital transformation.
Before the civil war, Syrian stakeholders were active participants in various internet governance forums and initiatives at the regional and global levels.
Digital strategies
The 2020-2030 Syria Strategic Plan (National Development Program for Post-War Syria) included a list of the key conclusions and objectives reached at the analysis stage of Syria’s development situation between 2018 and 2020 and outlined the 2030 vision and objectives based on a knowledge-based diversified economy through sustainable development. The strategic objectives include ‘the use of ICT to raise competitiveness, effectiveness, and productivity in institutions and for individuals’ and ‘the provision of digital content and online interactive education (electronic school)’.
Cybersecurity
Despite the conflict, online anonymity and privacy tools like VPNs remain legal and accessible in Syria. The government does not block VPN services or similar privacy-enhancing technologies, which contrasts with stricter controls seen in some other Middle Eastern nations. This openness allows some level of digital privacy and security for its citizens, though overall cybersecurity awareness and government policies on digital security are lacking.
On 18 April 2022, Syria issued Law No. 20 of 2022, relative to cybercrime. The law provides for reorganising criminal legal rules governing digital crime, which is included in Legislative Decree No. 17 of 2012.
Article 1 of Law No. 20 broadened the scope of cybercrime definition, bringing under its mantel all forms and patterns of shared digital content, including posts and footage uploaded onto social media. The law comprises 50 articles which aim to re-establish new criminal legal principles for the concept of cybercrime, previously encompassed by Law No. 17 of 2012, known as the Law of Network Communication against Cybercrime.
Syria has an officially recognised National CRRT, which is part of the National Agency for Network Service (NANS).
AI strategies and policies
Syria does not have AI strategies and policies.
Syria’s position on the AI Readiness Index at 193rd place, just above North Korea, underscores its challenging circumstances for AI development. The country’s ongoing socio-political issues have greatly impeded its ability to engage with and implement AI technologies, placing it at a severe disadvantage in the global landscape of digital innovation and AI readiness. This ranking highlights the significant barriers Syria faces in integrating advanced technologies into its development strategies.
General profile
Official name: Syrian Arab Republic
National internet domain: SY
Area: 185,180 km2
Capital: Damascus
Population: 22,933,531
Population growth: 3.7
Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.Life expectancy at birth: 73.65
Total years (2020year)Rule of law estimate: -2.07
Rule of Law captures perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Regulatory quality estimate: -1.86
Political stability: -2.66
Economic info
Currency: Syrian pound
Unemployment: 10.57
Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)GDP (current US$): 50.28 billion
GDP growth (annual %): No data
GDP per capita (current US$): 2,900
Inflation, consumer prices (annual %): No data
GNI (current US$): 55.8 billion
The Gross National Income, GNI, formerly referred to as gross national product (GNP), measures the total domestic and foreign value added claimed by residents, at a given period in time, usually a year, expressed in current US dollars using the World Bank Atlas method. GNI comprises GDP plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from non-resident sources.Ease of doing business score: 41.97
The ease of doing business score benchmarked economies concerning their proximity to the best performance in each area measured by Doing Business for the year 2019. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from0 = lowest performance to 100 = best performance
Digital profile
Internet and social media penetration:
Individuals using the internet: 35.8 (2024)
Social media statistics: No data
Estimate for 2022Male internet users: No data
Male internet users as a % of total male populationFacebook users: No data
Estimate for 2022Female internet users: No data
Female Internet users as a % of total female populationInstagram users: No data
Estimate for 2022Households with internet access at home (%): No data
Linkedin users: No data
Estimate for 2022Fixed broadband subscriptions: 7.4 (2021)
Total fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) refers to fixed subscriptions to high-speed access to the public internet (a TCP/IP connection), at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s.Twitter users: No data
Estimate for 2022Mobile infrastructure and access:
Mobile ownership: 72.3
Mobile phone ownership as a % of total population (Estimate for 2024)Mobile Infrastructure: No data
Mobile Infrastructure index: High-performance mobile internet coverage availability. It includes parameters such as network coverage, performance, quality of supporting infrastructure and amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators (Estimate for 2021)Male mobile ownership: No data
Male mobile phone ownership as a % of total male populationMobile Affordability: No data
Mobile Affordability index : The availability of mobile services and devices at price points that reflect the level of income across a national population. It includes parameters such as mobile tariffs, headset prices, taxation and inequality (Estimate for 2021)Female mobile ownership: No data
Female mobile phone ownership as a % of total female populationCybersecurity Index: No data
Cybersecurity Index (Estimate for 2021): ITU cybersecurity valueNetwork performance: No data
Network performance index: Quality of mobile services measured by download speed, upload speed and latencies (Estimate for 2021)Mobile download speeds: No data
Mobile download speeds: Average download speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)Mobile uploads speeds: No data
Mobile uploads speeds: average uploads speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)Mobile Latencies: No data
Mobile Latencies: Average latency for mobile users (originally in milliseconds) (Estimate for 2021)Speedtest-Broadband: 4.05
Speedtest-Broadband: The value is expressed in Mbps (Estimate for 2024)Network coverage: No data
Network coverage (% of total population) (Estimate for 2021)2G Coverage: No data
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)3G Coverage: No data
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)4G Coverage: No data
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)5G Coverage: No data
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)Operating system and browser market share estimate for 2024:
Operating system market share (%):
Desktop, Tablet & Console Operating System Market Share: Estimate for 2024Browser market share (%):
Browser Market Share Worldwide: Estimate for 2024Android: 86.49
Chrome: 80.56
Windows: 5.68
Safari: 3.95
iOS: 3.84
Edge: 0.72
OS X: 0.15
UC Browser: 1.37
Linux: 0.29
Samsung Internet: 9.85
The UN E-Government Survey 2022:
The UN E-Government Survey is the assessment of the digital government landscape across all UN member states. The E-Government Survey is informed by over two decades of longitudinal research, with a ranking of countries based on the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies.E-Government Rank: 156
Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies. Estimate gives the country's rank.E-Government Index: 0.39
The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.E-Participation Index: 0.07
The E-Participation Index (EPI) is derived as a supplementary index to the United Nations E-Government Survey. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Online Service Index: 0.31
The online services index was developed by the UN to evaluate the scope and quality of government online services. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Human Capital Index: 0.5
The Human Capital Index (HCI) quantiï¬_x0081_es the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Telecommunication Infrastructure Index: 0.36
Telecommunication Infrastructure Index- Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) Composite Indicator that measures the countries' Telecommunication infrastructure readiness to adopt the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology as to enhance their competitiveness. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.ICT information:
ICT skills
Information economy indicators
Individuals with basic ICT skills (%): No data
Share of ICT goods, % of total exports (value) 0.02 (2010)
Individuals with standard ICT skills (%): No data
Share of ICT goods, % of total import (value): 2.22 (2010)
Individuals with advanced ICT skills (%): No data
Most visited website: syria.tv
The survey conducted in 2024 excluded global dominant sites (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, and Google) and search engines (e.g., Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Naver, and Yandex) to level the playing field and discount middle-man visits. Likewise, it did not include adult, betting, illegal streaming/downloading services, and malicious websites.
