Migration profile : Lebanon

Abstract

In 2014, an estimated 885,000 Lebanese migrants, (i.e., firstgeneration, born in Lebanon) resided abroad. Meanwhile, in early 2016, it was said that “Lebanon hosts approximately 1.1 million refugees from Syria which amounts to around one in five people in the country”, or “one in four” according to other estimates. However, and notwithstanding the large scale of population movements to and from Lebanon throughout the country’s history, these figures are at best, educated guesses: the size and structure of Lebanon’s resident population (as well as that of the Lebanese population) remain “an enigma”. For example, at the time of writing, late 2016, the UN population data estimated the total population in Lebanon to stand at 5,988,000, while Lebanon’s Central Administration for Statistics’ homepage was displaying gave 3,759,100, for 2007!