Lebanese diaspora
Lebanese diaspora refers to Lebanese migrants and their descendants who emigrated from Lebanon and now reside in other countries. There are more Lebanese living outside Lebanon than within the country (5.3 million citizens). The diaspora population consists of Christians, Muslims, Druze, and Jews. The Christians trace their origin to several waves of emigration, starting with the exodus that followed the 1860 Lebanon conflict in Ottoman empire.
World map of the Lebanese diaspora | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| From 4 to possibly 14 million | |
| Languages | |
| Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French, English, Arabic, Armenian | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (mainly Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Melkite, Roman Catholic, Protestant), Islam (mainly Shia, Sunni, Sufi in addition to Alawite), Druze, and Judaism |
| Part of a series of articles on |
| Lebanese people |
|---|
| Lebanon portal |
Under the current Lebanese nationality law, the Lebanese diaspora do not have an automatic right to return to Lebanon. Varying degrees of assimilation and a high degree of inter-ethnic marriages in the Lebanese diaspora communities, regardless of religious affiliation, have caused many of the Lebanese diaspora not to have passed fluency in Arabic to their children, although most still maintain a Lebanese national identity. Several factors have caused Lebanese emigration, including civil wars, attacks on Lebanese sovereignty and land by Israel and Syria, and political and economic crises.
The largest diaspora by far resides in Brazil, with between 5 and 7 million, followed by Colombia and Argentina, with about 1 to 3 million each.