The most recent vital statistics, based on numbers of births and deaths per 1,000 population, varied according to source. According to Syrian government data, the crude birthrate in 1984 was 45.9 per 1,000. A 1986 estimate by an independent source calculated the crude birthrate at 47 per 1,000. Syrian sources estimated the 1984 crude deathrate at 8.25 per 1,000, while a 1986 estimate by an independent source calculated the rate at 9 per 1,000, and another source estimated it at 13 per 1,000 in 1981. Life expectancy at birth was estimated in 1986 to be 64 years, a marked increase over the 1970 life expectancy of 54 years. The change in this figure was primarily a result of a much lower infant mortality rate, which was reduced from 105 per thousand to 59 per thousand in the same time period.

Vital statistics for Syria are incomplete and are regarded as unreliable by United Nations demographers. Because births and deaths in the countryside are rarely registered, estimates are based on deficient coverage. The recording of births in the cities is based on the date of registration rather than on the date of birth, which causes wide fluctuations from year to year.

Data as of April 1987