Pre-Trip Information

Located in Northern Africa, Libya is bordered by the countries of Tunisia and  Algeria to the west,  Niger and Chad to the south, Sudan to the south east,  Egypt to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Due to its mainly desert landscape, Libya is a sparsely populated country relative to its land area. Population density is about 50 people per square kilometer (80 per square mile) in the two northern regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, but falls to less than one person per square kilometer (1.6 per square mile) elsewhere. Ninety percent of the people live in less than 10 percent of the area, primarily along the coast. More than half the population is urban. In total, the population of Libya is more than six million.

Libyans are primarily a mixture of Berbers and Arabs; today, there is little distinction remaining between these two groups.  Libya is also home to many tribal groups, including the Tuareg and the Warfala. Other ethnic and national groups represented in Libya include Tunisian, Egyptians, Italians, Greeks, Maltese, Indians and Pakistanis.  Sunni Islam has the most adherents in Libya.  Arabic is the official language, and although the use of Italian dates back to Libya's colonial history.  French and English are also spoken in some quarters in Libya. The literacy rate is quite high in Libya, relative to the rest of the world at 83 percent (as noted below), however, that rate belies the distinction of the genders whereby men enjoy markedly higher rates of literacy when compared with females.


Cultural and Economic Legacy

In terms of history, Libya was conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century; in the following centuries, its indigenous people were Arab-ized as they adopted the religion of Islam, as well as the Arabic language and culture. In the mid-16th century, Libya was conquered again -- this time by the Ottoman Turks. Libya remained part of the Ottoman empire until Italy invaded its territory in 1911.  A year later, Libya became an Italian colony. After World War II, British and French forces occupied the area until a United Nations resolution made Libya an independent nation state 1951. The discovery of oil in 1959 transformed Libya into a wealthy nation state, by international standards.  Indeed, Libya is considered a country with "high human development" (as discussed below), according to the Human Development Index (HDI), which is formulated by the United Nations Development Program.


Human Development

In terms of health and welfare, the infant mortality rate in Libya is 21.94 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth for the total population is 77 years of age (males: 74.81 years;  females: 79.44 years) . In recent years, the population growth rate was estimated to be 2.33 percent, and the fertility rate 3.34 children per woman, according to recent numbers. The literacy rate for the total population is 82.6 percent, although it is markedly higher for males at 92.4 percent than for females at 72 percent.

About   6.6 percent of GDP in this country is spent on health expenditures.  Access to water and sanitation in this country is regarded to be average, although there may be obstacles  in rural areas.

A notable measure of human development is the Human Development Index (HDI), which is formulated by the United Nations Development Program. The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. The HDI places Libya in the high human development category, at 53rd place. Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.