The 1981 census, the last official count for which full details were available in early 1987, showed a population of 8,996,000, not including around 340,000 beduin and some 263,000 Palestinian refugees. The growth rate was calculated at about 3.35 % a year.

Syria's rapid population growth is reflected in the youthfulness of its population. Age-related data from Syria's 1986 population estimate suggested that about 49% of the population was under 15 years old, and 36% was under 10 years old. An analysis of the same data showed that the proportion of people of working age was just over 44% of the total. Therefore, the working population supported a large number of inactive youths, to which were added elderly dependents or retirees over the age of 60, whose numbers were slowly rising because of improved health conditions.

The population of Syria (2001 estimate) is 16,728,808, giving the nation an overall population density of 90 persons per sq km.Population growth in 2001 was around at 2.5% a year.There is a rough correspondence between ethnic and linguistic groupings, although some ethnic groups have been partially assimilated by the Arab majority, which includes the Bedouins. Second in number to the Arabs are the Kurds, who have partially lost their mother tongue. The Armenians may be separated into two groups—the early settlers, who have been more or less Arabized, and the later immigrants, who arrived after World War I and retained their identity and language. The Turkmens intermingle freely with the Kurds and Arabs, but they have lost none of their ethnic identity in some northern villages. The Assyrians are quickly disappearing as a group because of intermarriage and migration to the cities.