Syria

Economy & income

Currency

• Syrian pound (SYP, £S/LS)
• ~122 new SYP per USD (Jul 2026), after Jan 1 2026 redenomination that cut 2 zeros (100 old = 1 new; old rate ~11,000–12,000/USD)

GDP per capita

• ~$847 nominal (2023, World Bank)
• ~$4,190 PPP (2023)
• Post-2023 official data scarce/unreliable — GDP collapsed from ~$67.5B (2011) to ~$21B (2024 est)

Average salary

• ~$100–150 net/mo est (wage.is / worldsalaries, 2025–26)
• gross ~$120/mo
• Transitional govt raised public-sector pay ~400% in Feb 2025
• figures heavily distorted by inflation + redenomination

Median salary

n/a — no reliable median-wage series amid post-war reconstruction and currency reform

Minimum wage

• ~£S1,850 new/mo (~$15/mo, 2026) public-sector minimum
• among the world's lowest, purchasing power very weak

Cost of living

• Low
• Numbeo/Livingcost data for Syria is thin and low-confidence (few contributors, 2026) — flag before using

Digital landscape

Population

25.2 million (Jan 2025, DataReportal)

Internet users

35.8% (~9.01 million users; +4.1% YoY)

Social media users

• n/a as a clean %— DataReportal suppresses Syria platform ad-reach under sanctions
• third-party estimates ~14M Facebook / ~9.5M YouTube identities

Mobile connections

19.5 million connections = 77.6% of population (91.7% on 3G/4G/5G)

Devices

mobile ~78.8% / desktop ~20.8% / tablet ~0.4% (StatCounter, Jun 2026)

Ad spend

• n/a — no reliable digital ad-spend figure
• US/EU sanctions long restricted Meta/Google ad serving (easing from 2025)
• DataReportal shows only tiny ad-audience artifacts (e.g. TikTok 18+ ad reach ~20.5k)

Top social platforms

Facebook ~96% of social referrals; ~14M users est — dominant

WhatsApp ~12.8M est

YouTube ~9.5M est; ~0.8% referrals

Instagram ~6.3M est; ~2.6% referrals

TikTok ~5.7M est; fastest-growing

Telegram ~4.9M est; news/channels

Messengers

• WhatsApp (dominant, near-universal)
• Telegram (channels + news)
• Facebook Messenger
• imo (voice/video, low-bandwidth)
• Signal (privacy-minded)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Cash (dominant, most merchants cash-only)
• Mobile wallets — Syriatel Cash (~80% wallet share), MTN Pay, Sham Cash
• Cash on delivery (default for e-commerce)
• PAYMERA POS / card acquiring (Visa/Mastercard, launched 2025–26, ~4,200 terminals scaling)
• Bank transfer (limited reach)

E-wallets

• Syriatel Cash
• Sham Cash
• MTN Pay
• Syria Cash
• SyriaPay

Cash on delivery

Very high — COD is the default for online orders given low card penetration and trust concerns

E-commerce

• Low but growing
• sanctions historically blocked PayPal/Visa/Mastercard, so commerce runs on Facebook/Instagram shops + COD

Notes

• 2025–26 sanctions relief is reconnecting Syria to global payment rails
• PAYMERA (under Central Bank licensing via Bimera) is rolling out card acceptance, but cash + mobile wallets still dominate

Audience & culture

Languages

• Arabic (official, ~90%+)
• Kurdish/Kurmanji (~10%)
• Armenian
• Turkmen/Turkish
• Aramaic/Syriac
• Circassian

Religion

• Sunni Muslim ~74%
• Alawite/Shia ~13% (Alawite ~10%)
• Christian ~10% (Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Syriac, Melkite)
• Druze ~3%

Median age

23.3 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025)

Key seasons

• Ramadan (peak — TV drama 'musalsalat' + spending)
• Eid al-Fitr & Eid al-Adha (gifting/shopping)
• Back-to-school (Sept)
• Christmas/New Year (Christian minority + diaspora)

Cultural notes

• Conservative, trust/word-of-mouth commerce with strong COD preference
• Ramadan drives huge TV+social engagement (Syrian drama is a pan-Arab export)
• A massive diaspora (~6M+ in Turkey, Germany, Gulf) shapes online audiences and remittance-funded spending

Where to find creators

• Instagram
• YouTube
• TikTok
• Facebook

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Celebrities

Nesreen Tafesh ~15M Instagram

Actress (pan-Arab drama)

Assala Nasri ~13M Instagram

Singer (one of the Arab world's biggest voices)

Kinda Alloush ~11M Instagram

Actress (Syrian/Egyptian cinema & drama), UNHCR supporter

Taim Hasan ~5M Instagram

Actor (Al Hayba, Jack Ryan)

George Wassouf ~2M Instagram

Legendary Tarab singer

D

Duraid Lahham n/a (veteran; limited social)

Iconic actor/comedian ('Ghawar')

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• Nutra COD (weight-loss, joints, potency — Halal + Arabic before/after creatives)
• E-commerce / dropshipping (COD physical goods)
• Mobile apps & utilities (VPN, cleaners)
• Sweepstakes / win-a-prize
• iGaming & betting (strong demand but blocked/grey — high risk)

Active networks

• AdCombo (nutra/e-com COD, MENA)
• Dr.Cash (nutra COD, MENA)
• Everad (nutra COD)
• TerraLeads (COD CPA hub)
• Adsterra / Monetag (traffic + CPA)

Payouts

• Tier-3 lower payouts: nutra COD CPA ~$8–18
• CPL ~$0.5–3
• well below Gulf/GCC rates

Competition

• Low-to-moderate
• small formal ad market due to sanctions, so many buyers target the diaspora (Turkey/Germany/Gulf) rather than in-country

Seasonality

• Ramadan/Eid peaks
• White Friday (late Nov) for e-commerce
• back-to-school in Sept

Traffic sources

• Facebook (dominant)
• TikTok (rising)
• Push/pop networks (Adsterra, Monetag, PropellerAds, RichAds)
• Telegram channels
• In-app

Good to know

Capital

Damascus

Major cities

• Aleppo
• Homs
• Latakia
• Hama
• Deir ez-Zor
• Raqqa
• Idlib

Time zones

Single zone, UTC+3 year-round (DST abolished Oct 2022) — tz_offset 180

Android vs iOS

96%

Android 96% iOS 4%

Phone brands

• Samsung (largest)
• Xiaomi/Redmi
• Huawei
• Oppo
• Apple/iPhone (small, premium)

Top e-commerce

• Facebook & Instagram shops (dominant channel)
• Local COD e-shops / classifieds
• Gulf platforms (Amazon.ae, Noon, AliExpress) via reshippers where sanctions allow — formal marketplaces still nascent

Peak activity

Evenings ~8–11pm local; strong late-night surge after iftar during Ramadan

Creative taboos

Politics/the war, sectarianism, Assad-era imagery, religion, LGBTQ+ (illegal/taboo), alcohol & pork, nudity — tread carefully given ongoing instability

Also worth knowing

1. The ~6M+ diaspora (Turkey, Germany, Gulf) is a prime, higher-payout target — bilingual Arabic+German/Turkish creatives convert.
2. 2025–26 sanctions relief is rapidly reopening ad platforms and payment rails — market is in flux, verify availability before scaling.
3. Facebook (~96% of social referrals) + WhatsApp/Telegram for conversion, with COD nutra & e-commerce the realistic verticals.