Religion in Lebanon

Lebanon is an eastern Mediterranean country that has the most religiously diverse society within the Middle East, comprising 18 recognized religious sects.^[3][4] The religions are Islam (Sunni, Shia, and a small number of Alawites and Ismailis) and Christianity (the Maronite Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Protestantism, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church the Roman Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church). The Druze comprise around 5% of Lebanon's population.^[5]

Lebanese people, including the diaspora, are mostly Christians.^[6][7] It is estimated that a large proportion of its population are refugees, accounting to approximately 2 million people out of a bit over 6 million in 2017, which affects statistics.^[3] The refugees, who mostly are of Syrian or Palestinian origin, are predominantly Sunni Muslim, but include Christians and Shia Muslims.^[3]

Lebanon differs from other Middle East countries where Muslims have become the majority after the civil war, and somewhat resembles Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania, both are in Southeastern Europe, and have a diverse mix of Muslims and Christians that each make up a large proportion of the country's population. Christians were once a majority inside Lebanon and are still a majority in the diaspora, which consists of nearly 14 million people. The president of the country is traditionally a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim.^{[citation needed]}