Lebanese diaspora refers to Lebanesemigrants and their descendants who emigrated from Lebanon and now reside in other countries. There are more people of Lebanese origin 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.
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.
Demographics
Although there are no reliable figures, the diaspora is estimated to be around 4[7][8][9] to 14 million people,[10][6][11] far more than the internal population of Lebanon of around 4.6 million citizens in 2020.[6][12] According to other estimates, the number of Lebanese living outside the country is thought to at least double the number of citizens living inside,[10] which means at least 8 million people. Of the diaspora, 1.2 million are Lebanese citizens.[1]
History
The Lebanese diaspora has always been a target to the Lebanese state to create institutional connection. In 1960 the World Lebanese Cultural Union was established under the authority of the President Fouad Chehab.[13]
France has always been an important destination for the Lebanese diaspora, because Lebanon used to be a French colony and because French language is massively spoken in Lebanon.[14][15][16]
The Americas have long been a destination for Lebanese migration, with Lebanese arriving in some countries at least as early as the nineteenth century. The largest concentration of Lebanese outside the Middle East is in Brazil, which has, according to some sources, at least 6 million Brazilians of Lebanese ancestry, making Brazil's population of Lebanese greater than the entire population of Lebanon.[17] According to a research conducted by IBGE in 2008, covering only the states of Amazonas, Paraíba, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso and Distrito Federal, 0.9% of white Brazilian respondents said they had family origins in the Middle East.[18]
A law passed in 2008 permitted Lebanese abroad to vote in Lebanese elections, starting in 2013.[19]
Business networks and economic impacts
Many Lebanese entrepreneurs and business people worldwide have proved very successful in all kinds of sectors and contexts. Lebanese abroad are considered "rich, educated and influential."[20]Remittances from Lebanese abroad to family members within the country were estimated at $8.9 billion in 2014 and accounted for 18% of the country's economy.[21] However, there remains a great untapped potential for further collaboration and cooperation between the diaspora and the Lebanese in their home country. Foreign direct investment is below 7% of the GDP, and almost half the Lebanese population is in tertiary education.
Throughout its history, the Lebanese diaspora used the Lebanese identity to create strong networks to help its members out. Over the course of time, immigration has indeed yielded Lebanese "commercial networks" throughout the world.[22] Lebanese migrants play an important role in assisting Lebanon and its people through financial support, touristic visits, starting businesses and trades.[23]
Lebanese populations in the diaspora
The list below contains approximate figures for people of full or partial Lebanese descent by country of residence, largely taken from the iLoubnan diaspora map.[24] Additional reliable cites have been provided where possible. Additional estimates have been included where they can be cited; where applicable, these are used in place of the iLoubnan figures. The figure below uses the data from the list and calculates the amount of Lebanese residents as a percentage of the total population of the respective country.
Outreach to the Lebanese diaspora by the Lebanese government
The Lebanese government increasingly sees the diaspora as a critical resource for investment and new immigrants. A 2016 television ad tried to entice Lebanese in the United States to move to Lebanon to help improve the standard of living.[65]
The Lebanese government launched the DiasporaID program in August 2017 to better connect Lebanese abroad to Lebanon itself. Funding for the project was provided by USAID with an objective of improving foreign investment in Lebanon.[66][67]
On August 8, 2017, Lebanese President Michel Aoun advocated children of Lebanese in the diaspora take on Lebanese citizenship during a speech to the Maronite Diaspora Institution at Baabda Palace.[68]
Lebanese cuisine has engrained itself as a staple in a multitude of cultures, wherever people from the Lebanese diaspora emigrated.[78] Examples include Brazil,[79] Canada [80] and the United States. [81] The language of food can contribute to feelings of cultural belonging, as shown through literary analysis.[82] It has served as both a source of identity and income for people of the Lebanese diaspora everywhere around the world.[83]
^The Lebanese community in Israel mostly consists of members of Antoine Lahad's Militia who continued to live in and receive salaries from the state of Israel since their group was disbanded in 2000.
^Includes Cuba, Guadalupe & Haiti
^Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru
^Excludes Saudi Arabia & Kuwait, includes Iraq & Jordan
^Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Monaco, Switzerland, United Kingdom
^Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria & Sierra Leone
^Egypt, Libya & rest of North Africa
^Iran, Indonesia, and Philippines
References
^ a b"Petition for expatriate voting officially launched". The Daily Star. 14 July 2012.
^International Migration and the Lebanese Diaspora. Co-éditions. Presses de l’Ifpo. 3 October 2019. pp. 42–43. ISBN 9782351595497.
^"Methods of Finding Population Statistics of Lebanese Migration Throughout the World". 4 February 2015.
^"Annuario Pontificio 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-24.
^Writer, Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior (17 November 2015). "Lebanon contemplates a new citizenship law". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ a b c"Country Profile: Lebanon". FCO. 3 April 2007. Archived from the original on 31 July 2003. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
^International Migration and the Lebanese Diaspora. Co-éditions. Presses de l’Ifpo. 3 October 2019. pp. 42–43. ISBN 9782351595497. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
^"Methods of Finding Population Statistics of Lebanese Migration Throughout the World". Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies News at North Carolina State University. 2015.
^"Annuario Pontificio- The Eastern Catholic Churches 2017" (PDF). Annuario Pontificio. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-10-24.
^ a b"Bassil promises to ease citizenship for expatriates".
^Fielding-Smith, Abigail (5 June 2009). "From Brazil to Byblos, Lebanese diaspora pours in for vote". thenational. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
^ a bLebanese Living in UAE Fear Deportation Archived 2014-10-16 at the Wayback Machine Al-Monitor, accessed December 2, 2013
^Skulte-Ouaiss, Jennifer; Tabar, Paul (4 May 2015). "Strong in Their Weakness or Weak in Their Strength? The Case of Lebanese Diaspora Engagement with Lebanon". Immigrants & Minorities. 33 (2): 141–164. doi:10.1080/02619288.2013.877347. S2CID 145242533.
^Rouchdy, Aleya (2002). Language Contact and Language Conflict in Arabic: Variations on a Sociolinguistic Theme. Psychology Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-7007-1379-0.
^".:: Embaixada do Líbano no Brasil ::". Archived from the original on 2010-11-12. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
^ a bIBGE. IBGE: Características Étnico-Raciais da População.
^"Lebanon approves new election law". BBC News. 30 September 2008.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t"Geographical Distribution of the Lebanese Diaspora". The Identity Chef.
^"Lebanese Republic". www.itamaraty.gov.br. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
^"Sleiman meets Brazilian counterpart, Lebanese community". The Daily Star. 23 April 2010.
^"Estimación de la mortalidad, 1985–2005" [Estimation of mortality, 1985–2005] (PDF). Postcensal Studies (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: DANE. March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
^Randa Achmawi (21 July 2009). "Colombia awakens to the Arab world". Brazi-Arab News Agency. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
^"Proyecciones nacionales y departamentales de población. 2006–2020" [National and departmental population projections. 2006–2020] (PDF) (in Spanish). DANE National Statistical Service, Colombia. September 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
^ a b"Argentinian President's visit to the Lebanese Parliament". The Lebanese Parliament. 7 June 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-06-07.
^Statistics Canada (2011). "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables".
^"Canada and Lebanon, a special tie". CBC News}. 1 August 2006.
^"Bevölkerung in Privathaushalten nach Migrationshintergrund im weiteren Sinn nach ausgewählten Geburtsstaaten". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^"Arab, Lebanese in Syria people group profile".
^"Lebanese Émigré Enclaves in Africa Await Presidential Visit". Al-Akhbar. 6 Feb 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
^"Côte d'Ivoire – World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples". 30 January 2018.
^"The Demographic Dimensions of the Conflict in Ivory Coast". 3 May 2011.
^"The biggest enchilada". The Sunday Telegraph. 8 July 2007. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
^"Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía, Inc" (in French).
^"Inmigración árabe a República Dominicana".
^"INTERVIEW – L'ambassadeur Jorge Jure (Khoury) raconte son pays et ses propres origines" (PDF). Embassy of Uruguay (Lebanon) (in French). 19 February 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
^"The most representative ethnic groups of Senegal". Retrieved 25 December 2022. On estime la communauté libanaise recensée au Sénégal à plus de 50 000 personnes (non nés au Sénégal).
^"Lebanese Immigrants Boost West African Commerce". Voice of America. 1 November 2009.
^"Suleiman Tells Lebanese Expats in Senegal that he Rejects Sectarian Vote Law". Naharnet. 14 March 2013.
^Kaniki, Martin H. Y. (1973). "Attitudes and Reactions towards the Lebanese in Sierra Leone during the Colonial Period". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 7 (1): 97–113. doi:10.1080/00083968.1973.10803689. JSTOR 483752.
^"الصفحة غير موجودة - Alraimedia.com". www.alraimedia.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
^"The Global Financial Crisis: Impact on Lebanese Expatriates in the Gulf" (PDF). LERC. December 2009.
^"The population of Lebanese in Nigeria at 30,000, many of whom are third generation Lebanese-Nigerians who now hold the Nigerian passport". thenationonlineng. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
^"Utrikes födda efter födelseland, kön och år". www.scb.se. Statistiska Centralbyrån. Retrieved 25 May 2017.[permanent dead link]
^"FOLK1C: Population at the first day of the quarter by region, sex, age (5 years age groups), ancestry and country of origin". Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
^"Qatar´s population by nationality". bq magazine. 7 December 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013.
^"Arab, Lebanese in South Africa people group profile".
^"The Struggle Of The Christian Lebanese For Land Ownership In South Africa". The Marionite Research Institute. Archived from the original on 2015-05-12.
^"These Young Israelis Were Born in Lebanon – but Don't Call Them Arabs". Haaretz. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
^ a b"At its height in the 1970s, Liberia's Lebanese community was 17,000 strong, according to BBC News Now, after Liberia's long civil war, it numbers around 3,000". liberianobserver. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
^"Liberia - the country where citizenship depends on your skin colour". 26 March 2018.
^"Big fail for ad aimed at Lebanese diaspora". The National. Retrieved 2017-08-17.
^"Hariri launches project to connect Lebanese diaspora". The Daily Star Newspaper – Lebanon. 2017-08-10. Archived from the original on 2017-08-16. Retrieved 2017-08-17.
^"Reclaim Lebanese Nationality". Lebanese Embassy in the United Kingdom.
^"Aoun urges Lebanese diaspora to take citizenship". The Daily Star Newspaper – Lebanon. 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2017-08-17.
^Youssef Bey Karam on Ehden Family Tree website
^"Sir Peter Medawar". New Scientist. 12 April 1984. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
^Elias James Corey – Autobiography Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. nobelprize.org
^"ATIYAH, Sir Michael (Francis)". Who's Who. Vol. 2014 (online edition via Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Michael E. DeBakey, M.D." Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
^Arias, Juan (10 April 2015). "O cardeal Temer". El País Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2 February 2017.
^Dilger, Daniel Eran (May 11, 2017). "iPod-Father Tony Fadell speaks at Computer History Museum's iPhone 360". AppleInsider. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
^Estevez, Dolia (19 November 2013). "Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim Is Quietly Transferring Assets To His Children". Forbes. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
^Hourani, Albert, Nadim Shehadi, and Centre for Lebanese Studies. 1992. The Lebanese in the World: A Century of Emigration. London, UK: Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B. Tauris.
^Karam, John Tofik. 2007. Another Arabesque: Syrian-Lebanese Ethnicity in Neoliberal Brazil. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
^Lefort, Bruno. 2023. “Conflicted Identities: Negotiating Belonging among Young People from the Lebanese Diasporas in Montreal.” Ethnopolitics 22 (4): 435–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2023.2199610.
^Rowe, Amy E. 2012. “Mint Grows Through the Cracks in the Foundation: Food Practices of the Assimilated Lebanese Diaspora in New England (USA).” Food and Foodways 20 (3–4): 211–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710.2012.715964.
^Hout, Syrine. 2021. “Having the Cake and Eating It Too: The Secret Ingredients of Code-Switching in A Girl Made of Dust.” College Literature 48 (1): 83–110. https://doi.org/10.1353/lit.2021.0003
^Helou, Anissa. 2018. Feast: Food of the Islamic World. First edition. New York, NY: Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
External links
The Lebanese Demographic Reality Lebanese Information Center, reviewed by Statistics Lebanon. 14 January 2013.
Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies at North Carolina State University
KUSUMO, Fitra Ismu, "ISLAM EN AMERICA LATINA Tomo I: La expansión del Islam y su llegada a América Latina (Spanish Edition)"[1]
KUSUMO, Fitra Ismu, "ISLAM EN AMÉRICA LATINA Tomo II: Migración Árabe a América Latina y el caso de México (Spanish Edition)" [2]
KUSUMO, Fitra Ismu, "ISLAM EN AMÉRICA LATINA Tomo III: El Islam hoy desde América Latina (Spanish Edition)"[3]