Lebanon's Population

December 31, 2002 20:10

Lebanon's population and the numerical ratios of the various sects and religions have acquired mythological dimensions as they get manipulated and modified to suit political agendas.

NALA has never believed that the exact numbers are material to the inalienable rights of any Lebanese individual or group. Human and civil rights should be equally afforded to all citizens regardless of whether they belong to the largest or smallest community.

However, the rest of the world appears hung on this particular issue. Regional and international Governments seem to judge the rights of people by their relative numbers in the country.

In recent years the Lebanese Government in line with the rest of the Arab world has taken it upon itself to systematically reduce the official number of Christians in the country to justify the lopsided policy of marginalization. Officials continually assert that the Christians who make up no more than 25-30% of the population should be grateful that they still have the rights they do.

Islamic Fundamentalists have raised the banner of an Islamic republic that denies all rights to non-Moslems based on this misrepresentation of facts.

As such we feel it imperative that the real numbers be revealed to the extent possible.

Voters Registration

The voters registration is the closest we get to an official census in Lebanon.

It is important to note the following:

Lebanon has not had any official census since the first and only census in 1932.
Lebanese residing outside Lebanon who still hold a Lebanese citizenship are at least equal to those residing in Lebanon.
Under Syrian tutelage, the Lebanese government has opted to selectively delete many of those to adapt the population numbers to its own agenda.
In the early 1990s hundreds of thousands of non-Lebanese, mostly Syrians and Palestinians were arbitrarily granted Lebanese citizenship to further alter the demographic and political make up of the country. Those were all Moslems.
The total eligible voters reported at 2.75 million would suggest a total Lebanese citizenship of roughly 5.5 million. But, the actual numbers are much higher by any count.
Resident Lebanese are estimated at 4,5 million with another 1 million temporarily working in the Arab world and Africa. Those alone match the official numbers, leaving the Lebanese in the rest of the world, estimated in the millions, unaccounted for.
If all holders of Lebanese citizenship over age 21 are counted, the voters rolls would amount to between 4 and 5 million as opposed to the 2.75 million officially reported.

Yet, in spite of all of the manipulations and arbitrary deletions and additions, Moslems barely outnumbered Christians on the official voter rolls in 2000 by a margin of 56% to 44%. The Government however continues to insist the Christians amount to no more than 30%.

Bellow is the detailed break-down of the Voters registration as stated by the Lebanese Government in 2000.

	Voter Summary 2000

Muhafaza	Voters	Christian %	Christian #	Moslem %	Moslem #
North	618,959	47%	291,299	53%	327,660
Mt Lebanon	694,566	67%	464,589	33%	229,977
Beirut	399,630	45%	178,665	55%	220,965
South	293,386	25%	74,721	75%	218,665
Nabatyeh	303,502	13%	38,424	87%	265,078
Bekaa	444,247	33%	148,678	67%	295,560

Total	2,754,290	43%	1,196,376	57%	1,557,905

		Voter Details 2000
	Mt Leb	Beirut		North		Bekaa		South	Nabatyeh		Total	% of Total
Maronite	322,755	25,378		182,415		50,677		43,817	18,178		643,220	23.35%
Orthdox	50,006	42,599		99,466		26,121		1,025	10,752		229,969	8.35%
Catholic	35,051	18,854		3,854		52,643		26,826	6,843		144,071	5.23%
Ar. Orh.	28,691	47,969		2,093		8,708		1,340	86		88,887	3.23%
Ar. Cath.	7,770	9,831		496		1,861		174	47		20,179	0.73%
Ar. Prot.	2,302	3,833		141		907		204	0		7,387	0.27%
Syriac	4,374	13,337		585		5,600		61	25		23,982	0.87%
Kelidan	559	1,680		60		359		15	0		2,673	0.10%
Latin	1,730	5,570		288		239		259	167		8,253	0.30%
Protestant	1,878	3,187		1,155		877		741	1,376		9,214	0.33%
Other C.	9,473	6,427		746		695		259	950		18,550	0.67%
Total C.	464,589	178,665		291,299		148,687		74,721	38,424		1,196,385	43.44%
%Christians	66.89%	44.71%		47.06%		33.47%		25.47%	12.66%

Shiite	52,064	53,317		3,970		179,717		169,532	234,752		693,352	25.17%
Sunni	54,388	162,806		323,684		100,806		48,663	18,507		708,854	25.74%
Druze	123,525	4,842		6		15,037		470	11,819		155,699	5.65%
Alawite	0	0		0		0		0	0		0	0.00%
Total M.	229,977	220,965		327,660		295,560		218,665	265,078		1,557,905	56.56%
%Moslems	33.11%	55.29%		52.94%		66.53%		74.53%	87.34%

Total	694,566	399,630	618,959		444,247		293,386		303,502	2,754,290		100.00%

Lebanon's Population

Comments

Post Comment