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Arab Culture & Civilization
Explore this exemplary library of articles and resources on Arab societies and culture. This site was originally created by the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE).
After two decades of being one of the best-known countries on the United States' state-sponsored terrorism list, Libya began to reverse course in the 1990s. Its ruler since taking power in a coup in 1969, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi, began to rebuild relationships with the West. The country took responsibility for the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and other acts of terrorism. Qadhafi also began to normalize relationships with other countries by renouncing the use of weapons of mass destruction in 2003. As a result, Libya was removed from the United States State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2006 and in 2007 was elected by the United Nations General Assembly to a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2008-09 term.
Libya's small population - just over 6 million people - and its revenues from the oil sector (95% of its economy) mean that it has one of the highest GDPs in Africa. But little of that money makes it ways down to the poor in Libya. As part of its effort to win back international approval (and economic investment) Libya has been working to implement economic reforms to address this issue and its overdependence on oil revenues generally. However, like much of Northern Africa, it is a country with a young population (median age is 23) and high unemployment. Poor farming conditions also mean that the country has to important 75% of its food supplies, which can often lead to shortages.
While it has addressed its terrorism problem, the country remains on international watch lists because of its designation as a transit spot for human trafficking of men and women from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Education: When Libya attained independence, about 90% of its population was illiterate, and there were few university graduates. Since then, the government has invested heavily in education, which is free at all levels. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Libya-EDUCATION.html
Ethnic Groups: Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims of mixed Arab and Berber ancestry make up well over 90 percent of indigenous population. Most of remainder Berbers, Tuaregs, and black Africans, and small but long-settled Greek and Maltese communities. Expatriates, imported under government contract to meet labor shortages, largely citizens of other Muslim countries; many technical and professional positions filled by East and West Europeans. Altogether, representatives of more than 100 nationalities live in Libya. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ly0006) Religion: Under the constitution, Islam is Libya's official religion and the government publicly supports a preference for a moderate practice of Islam. About 97% of the people are Sunni Muslim. In an effort to eliminate alternative political power bases, the government banned the once powerful Sanusiyya Islamic order. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Libya-RELIGIONS.html
Population The Arabic-speaking Berbers and Arabs constitute 97 percent of Libya's population. Greeks, Maltese, Italians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Turks, Indians, and Tunisians are the significant minority groups.
The Libyan population is relatively young, with 64 percent of the population between the ages of 15 and 64. Only 4 percent of Libyans are over the age of 64. (In contrast, almost 13 percent of the population in the United States is over the age of 64.) In 1998, 86.8 percent of the population was living in urban areas, particularly in Tripoli and Benghazi; this percentage marks a significant growth in urban population since 1975, when it accounted for 60.9 percent of the population. Urban dwellers will constitute roughly 90 percent of the population by 2015. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Libya.html
This page on Libya from the Al-Bab website provides several pages with information about Libyan culture, food, politics, economics, history, news, and travel.
This website provides information on the Libyan culture. Topics include history, urbanism, food, economy, social structure, gender roles, government, marriage, arts, medicine, and religion.
Arabic