Lebanese people

Lebanese people

National flag of Lebanon
Total population
4 million (Lebanon)[1] 4[2][3][4]–14 million [5][6][7] (Lebanese diaspora)
Regions with significant populations
Lebanon	4,130,000[1]
Brazil	1,000,000[8] – 6,000,000 – 7,000,000[9][10][11]
Argentina	1,500,000[12]
Colombia	700,000[13] – 3,200,000[14][15] [16]
United States	440,279[17]
Venezuela	340,000[18][19]
France	300,000[20][18]
Saudi Arabia	300,000[21]
Canada	250,000[22][23][24]
Australia	203,139[25]
Paraguay	200,000[26]
Ecuador	170,000;[27]
Ivory Coast	100,000[28][29] – 300,000[30][31]
Mexico	100,000[26]
Dominican Republic	80,000[32]
United Arab Emirates	80,000[33]
Uruguay	70,000[34]
Senegal	50,000[35][36]
Germany	50,000[37]
Kuwait	40,500[18]
Guinea	40,000[38]
Chile	32,000[39][40]
Nigeria	30,000[41]
Costa Rica	30,000[18]
Greece	27,420[18]
El Salvador	27,400[18]
Cyprus	25,700[18]
Guatemala	22,500[18]
Cuba	20,000[18]
Honduras	20,000[18]
South Africa	20,000[42]
Haiti	12,000[18][43]
Belgium	11,000[44]
Switzerland	10,000[45]
Togo	8,000[46]
Gabon	8,000[47]
Cameroon	6,000[48]
Guadeloupe (Overseas France)	5,000[49][50][51]
Israel	3,500[52]
Sierra Leone	3,000[53]
Benin	3,000[54]
Angola	2,500[55]
Peru	2,400[18]
Luxembourg	400[44]
French Guiana (Overseas France)	400[56]
Languages
Spoken Vernacular Lebanese Arabic & Cypriot Maronite Arabic[57] Diaspora French, English, Spanish, Portuguese
Religion
Islam (59.5% in Lebanon):2 (Shia,3 Sunni,3 Alawites, Ismailis[58] and Druze)4 Christianity (40.5% in Lebanon; majority of diaspora):1 (Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Melkite and Protestant)
Related ethnic groups
Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians
Notes: Lebanese Christians of all denominations constitute the majority of all Lebanese worldwide, but represent only a large minority within Lebanon. Lebanese Muslims of all denominations represent a majority within Lebanon, but add up to only a large minority of all Lebanese worldwide. Shias and Sunnis account for 54% of Lebanon's population together, even split in half (27%). In Lebanon, the Druze quasi-Muslim sect is officially categorized as a Muslim denomination by the Lebanese government.

The Lebanese people (Arabic: الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ash-shaʻb al-Lubnānī, Lebanese Arabic pronunciation: [eʃˈʃæʕeb ellɪbˈneːne]) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may also include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state. The major religious groups among the Lebanese people within Lebanon are Shia Muslims (27%), Sunni Muslims (27%), Maronite Christians (21%), Greek Orthodox Christians (8%), Melkite Christians (5%), Druze (5%), Protestant Christians (1%).^[59] The largest contingent of Lebanese, however, comprise a diaspora in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Africa, which is predominantly Maronite Christian.

As the relative proportion of the various sects is politically sensitive, Lebanon has not collected official census data on ethnic background since 1932 under the French Mandate. It is therefore difficult to have an exact demographic analysis of Lebanese society.^[60] The largest concentration of people with Lebanese ancestry may be in Brazil, having an estimated population of 5.8 to 7 million. However, it may be an exaggeration given that an official survey conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed that less than 1 million Brazilians claimed any Middle-Eastern origin.^[8] The Lebanese have always traveled the world, many of them settling permanently within the last two centuries.

Estimated to have lost their status as the majority in Lebanon itself, with their reduction in numbers largely as a result of their emigration, Christians still remain one of the principal religious groups in the country.^[61] Descendants of Lebanese Christians make up the majority of Lebanese people worldwide, appearing principally in the diaspora.^[62]