Religion in Lebanon

Religion in Lebanon is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. The main religious groups in the country are Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Maronite Christians, and Greek Orthodox Christians.

Lebanon officially recognizes 18 religious communities or sects: Islam (Sunni, Shia, Alawites, and Isma'ili), Druze, Christianity (the Maronite Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, evangelical Protestantism, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Latin Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church) and Judaism.

Statistics quoted in 2023 indicate that 32.2% are Shia, 31.2% are Sunni, 16.0% are Maronite, 7.6% are Greek Orthodox, 5.5% are Druze. The rest belong to other smaller Muslim and Christian denominations. Besides Lebanese citizens in Lebanon, a large proportion of the country's population are displaced refugees, accounting for 2 million out of 6 million in 2024. The refugees, who are mostly of Syrian or Palestinian origin, are predominantly Sunni Muslims, but include Christians and Shia Muslims.

Lebanon differs from other Middle East countries in that Muslims have become the majority more recently, after the Lebanese Civil War. Christians were once a majority inside Lebanon and are still an overwhelming majority in the Lebanese diaspora, which consists of nearly 14 million people.

Under the National Pact, the president of Lebanon must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim.