Lebanon's People and Religions: Who Lives in Lebanon?

Lebanon's people number about 5.3 million and are overwhelmingly Arab, but they belong to 18 officially recognized religious sects. No single faith is the main religion of Lebanon in the way one is in its neighbors: recent estimates put citizens at roughly two-thirds Muslim, split almost evenly between Sunni and Shia, and about one-third Christian, with a Druze minority.

Those figures are estimates because Lebanon has not held an official census since 1932. This guide gives the numbers from named sources, explains the main communities and describes two regions people often ask about: Mount Lebanon and the north.

About Lebanon: quick facts

Lebanon is a small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south. These figures are from the CIA World Factbook's last edition before it was discontinued in February 2026.

• Capital: Beirut
• Area: 10,400 square kilometers (about 4,000 square miles)
• Population: 5,364,482 (2024 estimate)
• Languages: Arabic (official), French, English and Armenian
• Independence: 22 November 1943, from the French mandate
• Highest point: Qornet es Saouda, 3,088 meters (10,131 feet)
• Where people live: mostly on or near the coast, especially in and around Beirut

What ethnicity is Lebanese?

The CIA World Factbook describes Lebanon's population as 95 percent Arab, 4 percent Armenian and 1 percent other. Arabic is the official language and the one almost everyone speaks at home.

Identity is more layered than the figure suggests. The Factbook adds that many Christian Lebanese do not identify as Arab but as descendants of the ancient Canaanites, and prefer to be called Phoenician. The Armenian community has its own language, listed by the Factbook among those spoken in Lebanon, and its own Orthodox and Catholic churches among the recognized sects.

What is the religion in Lebanon? The percentages

There are two widely used sets of estimates, and they broadly agree. Both count Lebanese citizens only, so they leave out Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

The US State Department's 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom cites Statistics Lebanon, an independent polling and research firm: 69.3 percent of citizens are Muslim, made up of 32.2 percent Shia, 31.2 percent Sunni, 5.5 percent Druze (whom the firm counts as Muslim) and 0.6 percent Alawites and Ismailis combined; 30.5 percent are Christian.

The CIA World Factbook's 2020 estimate gives Muslims 67.8 percent (31.9 percent Sunni and 31.2 percent Shia, with smaller numbers of Alawites and Ismailis), Christians 32.4 percent and Druze 4.5 percent, with very small numbers of Jews, Baha'is, Buddhists and Hindus.

So the honest answer to the question of Lebanon's main religion is that Islam is the largest, divided into two communities of almost equal size, alongside a Christian community of around a third and a Druze minority of about 5 percent.

The 18 recognized sects

Lebanese law recognizes 18 religious groups. According to the State Department report they are five Muslim groups, twelve Christian groups and Jews. Recognition matters in daily life: each recognized community runs its own courts for marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance, and there is no civil marriage procedure inside Lebanon.

• Muslim groups: Sunni, Shia, Druze, Alawite and Ismaili
• Catholic churches: Maronite, Greek Catholic (Melkite), Armenian Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean and Roman (Latin) Catholic
• Orthodox and other Eastern churches: Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Assyrian and Coptic
• Protestant: evangelical Protestant
• Jewish: a very small community, estimated by its own council at 70 to 100 people

Catholicism in Lebanon and Orthodox Lebanon

Most Lebanese Christians are Catholic, but not Roman Catholic in the usual Western sense. The largest group is the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic church with its own liturgy and patriarch. Statistics Lebanon estimates Maronites at 52.5 percent of the Christian population, which works out to roughly 16 percent of all citizens. Greek Catholics (Melkites), Armenian Catholics, Syriac Catholics, Chaldeans and a small Latin-rite community are the other Catholic churches.

The Greek Orthodox are the second-largest Christian community, at 25 percent of Christians, or roughly 8 percent of citizens. Orthodox Lebanon also includes the Armenian Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox churches.

Why there has been no census since 1932

Religion decides how power is shared, so counting it is politically sensitive. Under the unwritten National Pact of 1943, which used the 1932 census figures, the president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim.

The Taif Agreement of 1989, which ended the 15-year civil war, fixed seats in parliament at half Christian and half Muslim and shifted some powers from the presidency to the prime minister. Because the whole arrangement rests on the proportions between communities, a new count is politically sensitive, and none has been held.

Mount Lebanon governorate

Lebanon is divided into nine governorates and 26 districts. The Mount Lebanon governorate surrounds Beirut on its landward side and runs along the Mediterranean coast and up into the mountains behind it. If you are looking at a map of Mount Lebanon, find Beirut on the coast: the governorate is the band of hills and towns wrapped around the capital, between the sea and the Beqaa valley.

According to the European Union Agency for Asylum's country report, it has an estimated 1.2 million inhabitants, including refugees. It is predominantly Christian, with large Druze communities in its southern and eastern parts. Its districts are Baabda, where the presidential palace stands, Metn, Aley and the Chouf. The two northernmost districts, Keserwan and Jbeil (Byblos), were separated in 2017 to form a governorate of their own.

The name is also used for the mountain range itself: the Lebanon Mountains, which the Beqaa valley separates from the Anti-Lebanon range to the east.

The north of Lebanon

The North governorate has an estimated 700,000 inhabitants, including refugees. Its capital, Tripoli, is the second-largest city in the country, known for its Mamluk-era old city and souks. The same report estimates Tripoli's population at about 200,000, around 80 percent Sunni Muslim, with an Alawite minority of 6 to 7 percent and Christians making up the rest.

Beyond Tripoli the north is varied. Its other districts are Zgharta, Koura, Batroun, Bsharri and Miniyeh-Danniyeh. Bsharri is home to the Cedars of God and is the birthplace of the poet Gibran Khalil Gibran; Koura is known for its olive groves. Akkar, further north, is a separate governorate.

Palestinians in Lebanon

One group is missing from every percentage above: refugees. Palestinians have lived in Lebanon since 1948, mostly in and around 12 camps, without citizenship. Our guide to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon covers their numbers and history.

Fight for Palestine does not work in Lebanon. We fund emergency aid for Palestinian families in Gaza through local partner teams, and you can support that work on our donate page or read about Gaza humanitarian aid.