Arab New Zealanders refers to people from Arab countries, particularly Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and Jordan and also small groups from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Yemen and Sudan,[citation needed] who emigrated from their native nations and currently reside in New Zealand.
[4] In the 1890s there was a move to introduce legislation that would stop Lebanese migration and ban those already resident from peddling goods.
Recently Iraqis in New Zealand have replaced Lebanese, of which there are approximately 1,000[1] as the most common Arab migrant group with more than 6,500 settling mostly in the main centres.
[2][failed verification] Statistics show that nearly 15,000 Middle Eastern immigrants (including those of Persian origin) moved to New Zealand since 1997.
The three main Christian followings are Maronites, Eastern Orthodox and Melkites (Greek Catholics).