Buddhism in the Middle East (Redirected from Buddhism in Lebanon)

It is estimated that in the Middle East, over 900,000 people profess Buddhism as their religion. Buddhist adherents make up just over 0.3% of the Middle East total population. Many of these Buddhists are workers who have migrated from Asia to the Middle East since the late 1990s, many of them come from countries that have large Buddhist populations, such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

Demographics

Theravada Buddhism is the predominant religion of workers from Thailand and Sri Lanka. Mahayana Buddhism is the predominant religion of workers from East Asia and Vietnam, although Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto are also represented among these people. In Dubai (the United Arab Emirates) and Qatar, the workers from Sri Lanka were allowed to celebrate Vesak (the most important holiday in Buddhism) in those Islamic countries.

Saudi Arabia

It is estimated that there are 13.49 million foreign residents are living and working in Saudi Arabia.

In addition to 400,000 Sri Lankans, there are a few thousand Buddhist workers from East Asia, the majority of whom are Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai. A number of Tibetan-Nepalese immigrants may also be among the foreign population of Saudi Arabia. According to a 2020 report by the Association of Religion Data Archives, Buddhists make up about 0.33% of the Saudi population with comprehensive data on foreigners being unavailable.

Qatar

In 2020, Buddhism was represented by between 1.8-3.8% of the population of Qatar, mainly comprising migrant workers from South-East Asia and East Asia especially from China, South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Population by country

Buddhist percentages in the Middle East

  Saudi Arabia (45.9%)
  Kuwait (11.1%)
  Turkey (7.9%)
  Qatar (5%)
  Oman (3.6%)
  Bahrain (0.8%)
  Israel (0.7%)
  Lebanon (0.4%)
Buddhism by country in the Middle East
Country Population (2022) % of Buddhists Buddhist total
 United Arab Emirates 9,441,129 2.40% 210,000
 Qatar 2,695,122 3.80% 90,000
 Kuwait 4,268,873 5.40% 180,000
 Saudi Arabia 36,408,820 .40% 130,000
 Bahrain 1,472,233 3.10% 50,000
 Oman 3,204,897 .70% 20,000
 Israel 9,038,309 .30% 20,000
 Lebanon 5,489,739 .20% 10,000
 Turkey 85,341,241 .09% 40,000
Total 157,360,363 1.82% 750,000

See also

External links


This page was last updated at 2024-02-05 20:04 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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