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The 1932 census stated that Christians made up 50% of the resident population. Maronites, the largest among the Christian denomination and then largely in control of the state apparatus, accounted for 29% of the total resident population. The total population of Lebanon was reported to be 1,411,000 in 1956. [15]
As the last Lebanese census was conducted in 1932, it is difficult to have precise population estimates. Lebanon has the highest proportion of Christians of any country in the Middle East, but exact size of this population has been disputed for many years. One estimate of the Christian share of Lebanon's population, as of 2012, was 40.5%. [18]
No official census has been taken since 1932, reflecting the political sensitivity in Lebanon over confessional (i.e., religious) balance. [10] As a result, the religious affiliation of the Lebanese population is very difficult to establish with certainty and various sources are used to get the possible estimate of the population by religious affiliation.
Christians were half of Lebanon's population before the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), but in 2012 they are believed to form a large minority of 40.5% [115] of the country's population (according to the last official Lebanese Census of 1932, the Lebanese Christian population was 51% [116] of the country's population).
The list of religious populations article provides a comprehensive overview of the distribution and size of religious groups around the world. This article aims to present statistical information on the number of adherents to various religions, including major faiths such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, as well as smaller religious communities.
The exact number of Christians in modern Lebanon is uncertain because no official census has been made in Lebanon since 1932. Lebanese Christians belong mostly to the Maronite and Greek Orthodox Churches, with sizable minorities belonging to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and Armenian Apostolic Church.
According to Ottoman statistics studied by Justin McCarthy, [ 94 ] the population of Palestine in the early 19th century was 350,000, in 1860 it was 411,000 and in 1900 about 600,000 of which 94% were Arabs. The estimated 24,000 Jews in Palestine in 1882 represented just 0.3% of the world's Jewish population.
It is believed that there has been a decline in the ratio of Christians to Muslims over the past 60 years, due to higher emigration rates of Christians, and a higher birth rate in the Muslim population. [316] When the last census was held in 1932, Christians made up 53% of Lebanon's population. [297]