Lebanon’s population hits 4.8m with 20% non-Lebanese

Lebanon’s population hits 4.8m with 20% non-Lebanese

Tue, 2019-12-24 04:03

BEIRUT: Lebanon's first integrated labor force study and largest family living conditions survey in almost three decades has revealed an estimated population of 4.8 million, 20 percent of them foreigners.

The detailed review also showed the crisis-hit country's unemployment rate to be running at 11.4 percent, and the average size of Lebanese families to have decreased.

However, Dr. Maral Tutelian Guidanian, general director of Lebanon's Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) which gathered the data between April 2018 and March 2019, said: "The survey did not include refugee camps, neighboring communities, military barracks and nonresidential units in general.“

The figures represent the first official statistics of their kind to emerge since the end of the country's civil war in 1990, except for some studies carried out during the 1990s into youth and women.

"In the absence of a recent survey, this survey constitutes a main foundation for planners and national decision-makers to promote Lebanon's development indicators and contribute to achieving sustainable prosperity for all,“ said the International Labor Organization's (ILO) regional director for Arab states, Dr. Ruba Jaradat.

The results of the study found that the average Lebanese family size reached 3.8 members, down from 4.3 in 2004, with women caring for 18 percent