The Coptic diaspora (Coptic: ϯⲇⲓⲁⲥⲡⲟⲣⲁ `ⲛⲣⲉⲙⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ, romanized: ti-diaspora en-remenkemi) consists of Copts who live outside of their primary area of residence within parts of present-day Egypt, Libya and Sudan.
The number of Copts outside Egypt has sharply increased since the 1960s. The largest Coptic diaspora populations are in the United States, in Canada and in Australia, but Copts have a presence in many other countries.
According to one scholar: "Estimations of the actual number of Egyptian Copts (and their descendants) living abroad vary enormously, with those circulated by Coptic expatriate activists. The biggest Coptic community abroad, that of the United States, included up to 1,000,000 persons in the late 2010s according to Coptic advocacy groups, but only 300,000 according to the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States itself, and even less—roughly between 100,000 and 200,000—according to the scarce statistical evidence supplied by the Egyptian and U.S. governments."[1]
Smaller communities of Copts exist in Australia (estimated 32,000 in 2006)[1] and in Canada (estimates vary: one 2001 estimate placed the population at 10,000[1] while a 1995 estimate placed the population at 50,000[3]).
Coptic Orthodox college at Frankston, Victoria, Australia.
Smaller communities (under 10,000 people) exist in Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy.[1]
In 2009 one scholar placed the total Coptic population of North America at more than 500,000.[21]
In 1999, it was reported that there were "over eighty Coptic churches, two theological colleges, and a monastery in the United States in Canada; twenty-five churches, a theological college, three schools, and two monasteries in Australia, and thirty churches and two monasteries in Europe."[22]
The Coptic diaspora began primarily in the 1950s as result of discrimination, persecution of Copts and low income in Egypt.[21][20][25][26] After Gamal Abdel Nasser rose to power, economic and social conditions deteriorated and many wealthier Egyptians, especially Copts, emigrated to Europe and the United States.[26][20] Emigration increased following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and the emigration of poorer and less-educated Copts increased after 1972, when the World Council of Churches and other religious groups began assisting Coptic immigration.[26] Emigration of Egyptian Copts increased under Anwar al-Sadat (with many taking advantage of Sadat's "open door" policy to leave the country) and under Hosni Mubarak.[20]
Many Copts are university graduates in the professions, such as medicine and engineering.[20]
According to Mariz Tadros, the discourse that refers to Copts as the original inhabitants of the land [Egypt] and others as having less claims to it, which she described as "supremacist and exclusionary", is adopted by some Copts living in the diaspora, such as Shawky Karas. However, she added that this discourse "doesn't have much currency, whether among the coptic intelligentsia in Egypt or among the Coptic population at large." On the other hand, the mainstream discourse adopted by Coptic historians presents a common Egyptian history binding together all Egyptians.[27]
^ abSmith, Charles D. (2005). "The Egyptian Copts: Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Definition of Identity of a Religious Minority". In Shatzmiller, Maya (ed.). Nationalism and Minority Identities in Islamic Societies. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 60. (giving 1995 estimate).
^"Kuwait". U.S. Department of State. November 8, 2005. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
^Teller, Matthew (12 July 2015). "Free to pray – but don't try to convert anyone". BBC. Retrieved 12 July 2015. Ten-thousand or more live in the UAE, and young, bearded priest Father Markos, 12 years in Dubai, told me his flock are 'more than happy – they enjoy their life, they are free.'
^Juan E. Campo & John Iskander, "The Coptic Community" in The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions (ed. Mark Juergensmeyer: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 317.
^Independent estimates of the size of the Egyptian Coptic population vary. The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions reports: "There are conflicting estimates for the size of Egypt's Coptic population. As is often the case with minorities, official counts tend to underestimate their size, while the minority group inflates its own numbers."[12] The BBC reported in 2004 that Copts make up between 5% and 10% of the Egyptian population.[13] The CIA World Factbook reported a 2012 estimate that the Christian community in Egypt (including both Copts and non-Copts) is about 10%.[14] A 2005 report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy reported that "Christians make up 4–15 percent of Egypt's population of a hundred million, though precise estimates of the number of Copts vary widely."[15]
^Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Sudan : Copts, 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749ca6c.html [accessed 21 December 2010]
^Jason Morgan et al., Culture and Customs of Libya (ABC-CLIO, 2012), p. 40.
^ abcde"Diaspora, Copts in the" in The A to Z of the Coptic Church (ed. Gawdat Gabra: Scarecrow Press, 2009), pp. 91–92.
^ abSeteney Shami, "'Aqualliyya/Minority in Modern Egyptian Discourse" in Words in Motion: Toward a Global Lexicon (eds. Carol Gluck & Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing: Duke University Press, 2009), p. 168.
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