No official census has been taken since 1932, reflecting the political sensitivity in Lebanon over confessional (i.e. religious) balance. The population of Lebanon is estimated to be 4,100,000, concentrated on the coast and Mount Lebanon slopes.
Lebanese law stipulates that each Lebanese is to join one of 18 recognized religious sects (5 Muslims, 11 Christians and Jews):
The law specifies that each sect is free to manage its waqf (religious endowment) properties, as well as its personal status laws for its members.
No official census has been taken since 1932, reflecting the political sensitivity in Lebanon over confessional (i.e. religious) balance. The CIA World Fact Book gives the following distribution: Muslim - 59.7% (Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite or Nusayri), Christian - 39% (Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Coptic, Protestant), other 1.3% including the "Israelite sect" (official name), basically the members of the Lebanese Jewish community.[2]
There are 17 religious sects recognized.[3]. An 18th sect, the Copts was added recently to make the total official religious sects in Lebanon 18. Some followers of the Druze religion do not consider themselves to be Muslim; however, the state legally recognizes Druze followers as Muslim.
The number of those inhabiting Lebanon proper was estimated at 3,925,502 in July 2007.[3] There are approximately 18 million people of Lebanese descent spread all over the world, with Brazil having the largest Lebanese community abroad (8 million).[4] Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, France, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, Venezuela, USA, West Africa, South Africa, Congo, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic also have large and considerable Lebanese communities.
In 2007, Lebanon hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 325,800. 270,800 refugees and asylum seekers were from Palestine, 50,200 from Iraq, and 4,500 from Sudan. Lebanon forcibly returned more than 300 refugees and asylum seekers in 2007.[5]
الجمهورية اللبنانية
Al-Jumhūrīyyah al-Lubnānīyyah Lebanese Republic | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Anthem: Kulluna lil-watan lil 'ula lil-'alam | |
 | |
| Capital
and largest city
| Beirut 33°54′N 35°32′E / 33.900°N 35.533°E / 33.900; 35.533 |
| Official languages | Arabic |
| Other common languages | French, English, Armenian |
| Demonym(s) | Lebanese |
| Government | Confessionalist, Parliamentary democracy |
| Michel Suleiman | |
| Fouad Siniora | |
| Nabih Berri | |
| Independence
from French-administered League of Nations mandate
| |
• Declared | 26 November 1941 |
• Recognized | 22 November 1943 |
| Area | |
• Total
| 10,452 km2 (4,036 sq mi) (166th) |
• Water (%)
| 1.6 |
| Population | |
• February 2008 estimate
| 4,196,453 (125th) |
• Density
| 358/km2 (927.2/sq mi) (26th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2007 estimate |
• Total
| $42.27 billion (84th) |
• Per capita
| $11,300 (42nd) |
| HDI (2007) | 0.772 high (88th) |
| Currency | Lebanese pound (LBP) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST)
| UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Calling code | 961 |
| ISO 3166 code | LB |
| Internet TLD | .lb |
Lebanon (/ˈlɛbənɒn/ Arabic: لبنان Lubnān), officially the Republic of Lebanon[6]orLebanese Republic[7] (الجمهورية اللبنانية), is country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south.
In the early 12th century BC, the Phoenicians, a seafaring people, established several city-states on the eastern Mediterranean coast, mostly on the territories of present-day Lebanon. The area has been subsequently fallen under the rule of several empires: the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenic Seleucid and Roman empires, until the advent of the Arab conquests and the domination of successive Islamic empires or caliphates. In 1860, an autonomous Mutasarrifiyah was established in the Ottoman empire, to which other provinces were attached after World War I to become the state of Greater Lebanon under a League of Nations French Mandate. The Republic of Lebanon gained independence from France in 1943 and witnessed a period of prosperity until the advent of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Due to its sectarian diversity, Lebanon is commonly described as a model for the coexistence of 18 different religious communities (Muslims, Christians and Jews). The state provide for the representation of each community by the means of a unique political system, known as confessionalism, based on a community-based power-sharing mechanism.[8] Due to its religious diversity, Lebanese culture has been characterized as a unique blend of Western and Arab culture, and has enjoyed some of the highest press freedom in the Arab World. Lebanon is a founding member of the Arab League and the United Nations.
