The term may also include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state.

As the relative proportion of the various sects is politically sensitive, Lebanon has not collected official census data on ethnic background since 1932 under the French Mandate.

Estimated to have lost their status as the majority in Lebanon itself, with their reduction in numbers largely as a result of their emigration, Christians still remain one of the principal religious groups in the country.

Their rich cultural heritage includes food, music, literature, and art, which is also shaped by the country's location at the crossroads of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The country has experienced a series of civil wars, foreign invasions, and political crises, which has deepened divisions between different communities and eroded trust in the government and institutions.

In the face of political and social challenges, the Lebanese people are known for their resilience and their ability to come together in times of crisis which has helped to strengthen their sense of national identity.

[9][10][11] These figures, however, may be an exaggeration given that, according to a 2008 survey conducted by IBGE, in 2008, covering only the states of Amazonas, Paraíba, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso and Distrito Federal, 0.9% of white Brazilian respondents said they had family origins in the Middle East[8] Large numbers also reside elsewhere in North America, most notably in the United States (489,702)[107] and in Canada, the people of full or partial Lebanese descent are between 190,275 (by ancestry, 2011 Census)[108] to 250,000 based on estimates.

[21] In the rest of the Americas, significant communities are found in Argentina,[13] Mexico (400,000);[109] Chile,[110] Colombia[111] and Venezuela, with almost every other Latin American country having at least a small presence.

[134] Many well-established Lebanese Jewish diaspora communities exists, such as in Brazil, France, Switzerland, Canada and the United States.

[136] In addition, many thousands of Arab Bedouins in the Bekaa and in the Wadi Khaled region, who are entirely Sunnis, were granted Lebanese citizenship.

[148] In 1997, the Lebanese government committed to a policy of trilingualism in education, including French and English alongside the official Arabic language in the curriculum.

Many dishes in Lebanese cuisine can be traced back thousands of years to eras of Phoenician, Persian, Egyptian, Neo-Babylonian, Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Arab and Ottoman rule.

From 1516 to 1918, the Ottoman Turks controlled Lebanon and introduced a variety of foods that have become staples in the Lebanese diet, such as cooking with lamb.

Several contemporary Lebanese writers have also achieved international success; including Elias Khoury, Amin Maalouf, Hanan al-Shaykh, and Georges Schéhadé.

Though Lebanon is a secular country, family matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance are still handled by the religious authorities representing a person's faith.

[163] Radio stations feature a variety of genres and languages, including traditional, classical Arabic and Armenian[164][165] Prominent traditional musicians include Fairuz, an icon during the civil war, Sabah Melhem Barakat, Wadih El Safi, Majida El Roumi, and Najwa Karam who built an international audience for the genre.

[162] Marcel Khalife, a musician who blends classical Arab music with modern sounds, boasts immense[166] popularity for his politically charged lyrics.

[162][163] Distinguished pop artists include Nancy Ajram, Haifa Wehbe, Fadl Shaker, Elissa, and Mika.

[162] According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, Lebanon's music industry is growing and could attain leading status in the region.

[167] Lebanese performers are celebrated throughout the Arab World,[168] and with the notable exception of Egypt enjoy increasing regional popularity.

[167] Rising demand for Arabic music outside Western Asia has provided Lebanese artists with a small but significant global audience.

[169] In a 2017 study by Haber et al., the authors concluded that modern-day Lebanese individuals "derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population".

Additionally, the researchers identified Eurasian ancestry in modern Lebanese genomes that was absent in Bronze Age populations.

[170] In a 2020 study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, authors showed that there is substantial genetic continuity in Lebanon and the Levant since the Bronze Age (3300–1200 BC) interrupted by three significant admixture events during the Iron Age, Hellenistic, and Ottoman period, each contributing 3%–11% of non-local ancestry to the admixed population.

The admixtures were tied to the Sea Peoples of the Late Bronze Age collapse, South or Central Asians, and Ottoman Turks, respectively.

[171] One study by the International Institute of Anthropology in Paris, France, confirmed similarities in the Y-haplotype frequencies in Lebanese, Palestinian, and Sephardic Jewish men, identifying them as "three Near-Eastern populations sharing a common geographic origin.

"[172] The study surveyed one Y-specific DNA polymorphism (p49/Taq I) in 54 Lebanese and 69 Palestinian males, and compared with the results found in 693 Jews from three distinct Jewish ethnic groups; Mizrahim, Sephardim, and Ashkenazim.