ABSTRACT
Population distribution reflects the scarcity of cultivable land in Libya and the rather limited range of alternative economic opportunities. Most of the people are concentrated in a northern coastal belt, 92 per cent of them in coastal areas around Tripoli and Benghazi on less than 10 per cent of the land. The creation of a large urban-based industrial sector is one of the development priorities of the revolutionary government of Libya. The first economic plan sought to create conditions in which the private sector would develop manufacturing industry, including infrastructural projects and financial incentives. According to the ambitious 1981-85 Transformation Plan, Libyan industry was to have been massively expanded, with heavy industrial activity strongly emphasized. Iron and steel manufacturing, aluminium smelting, petrochemical manufacture and oil refining all featured prominently, together with a host of smaller industrial projects. Since 1981 the Libyan economy has been badly hit by declining oil revenues.
