Total population | |
---|---|
3.5 million people [1] (2020) 1.06% of the population | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Mostly in the major metropolitan areas | |
Languages | |
English |
Middle Eastern Americans are Americans of Middle Eastern background. This includes people whose background is from the various Middle Eastern and West Asian ethnic groups, such as the Kurds and Assyrians, as well as immigrants from modern-day countries of the Arab world, Israel, Iran, Turkey, and Armenia. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Although once considered Asian Americans, the modern definition of "Asian American" now excludes people with West Asian backgrounds. [6]
One of the first large groups of immigration from the Middle East to the United States came by boat from the Ottoman Empire in the late 1800s. Although U.S. officials referred to them as Turkish, most referred to themselves as Syrian, and it is estimated that 85 percent of these Ottoman immigrants came from modern Lebanon. Later, new categories were created for Syrians and Lebanese. [7] : 4
The number of Armenians who migrated to the U.S. from 1820 to 1898 is estimated to be around 4,000 [8] and according to the Bureau of Immigration, 54,057 Armenians entered the U.S. between 1899 and 1917, with the vast majority coming from the Ottoman Empire. [9] The largest Armenian American communities at that time were located in New York City; Fresno; Worcester, Massachusetts; Boston; Philadelphia; Chicago; Jersey City; Detroit; Los Angeles; Troy, New York; and Cleveland. [10]
Another wave of immigration from the Middle East began in 1946, peaking after the 1960s. Since 1968, these immigrants have arrived from such countries as Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. [7] : 11
Ancestry | American Census Bureau [11] | Estimates |
---|---|---|
Arab Americans | 2,005,223 | 3,700,000 [12] [13] |
Armenian Americans | 485,970 | 500,000–1,500,000 [14] [15] |
Iranian Americans | 476,967 | 1,000,000–2,000,000 [16] [17] [18] [19] |
Turkish Americans | 222,593 | 1,000,000–3,000,000+ [20] [21] [22] |
Israeli Americans | 139,127 | N/A |
Coptic Americans | N/A | 200,000–1,000,000 [23] [24] [25] [26] |
Assyrian, Chaldean, or Syriac Americans | 101,135 | 110,807–600,000 [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] |
Kurdish Americans | N/A | 15,000–20,000 [32] |
Berber Americans | N/A | 3,000 |
The population of Middle Eastern Americans includes both Arabs and non-Arabs. In their definitions of Middle Eastern Americans, United States Census Bureau and the National Health Interview Survey include peoples (diasporic or otherwise) from present-day Iran, Israel, Turkey, and Armenia. [33] [34]
As of 2013, an estimated 1.02 million immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) lived in the United States, making up 2.5 percent of the country's 41.3 million immigrants. [35] Middle Eastern and North African immigrants have primarily settled in California (20%), Michigan (11%), and New York (10%). Data from the United States Census Bureau shows that from 2009 to 2013, the four counties with the most MENA immigrants were Los Angeles County, California; Wayne County, Michigan (Detroit), Cook County, Illinois (Chicago), and Kings County, New York (Brooklyn); these four counties collectively "accounted for about 19 percent of the total MENA immigrant population in the United States." [36]
Although the United States census has recorded race and ethnicity since the first census in 1790, this information has been voluntary since the end of the Civil War (non-whites were counted differently from 1787 to 1868 for the purpose of determining congressional representation). [37] As such, these statistics do not include those who did not volunteer this optional information, and so the census underestimates the total populations of each ethnicity actually present. [38]
Although tabulated, "religious responses" were reported as a single total and not differentiated, despite totaling 1,089,597 in 2000. [39]
Independent organizations provide improved estimates of the total populations of races and ethnicities in the U.S. using the raw data from the U.S. census and other surveys.
According to a 2002 Zogby International survey, the majority of Arab Americans were Christian; the survey showed that 24% of Arab Americans were Muslim, 63% were Christian and 13% belonged to another religion or no religion. [40] Christian Arab Americans include Maronites, Melkites, Chaldeans, Orthodox Christians, and Copts; Muslim Arab Americans primarily adhere to one of the two main Islamic denominations, Sunni and Shia. [40]
The University of Tehran is the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching profile, UT has been nicknamed "The Mother University [of Iran]". In international rankings, UT has been ranked as one of the best universities in the Middle East and is among the top universities of the world. It is also the premier knowledge producing institute among all OIC countries. Tehran University of Medical Sciences is in the 7th ranking of the Islamic World University Ranking in 2021. The university offers more than 111 bachelor's degree programs, 177 master's degree programs, and 156 PhD. programs. Many of the departments were absorbed into the University of Tehran from the Dar al-Funun established in 1851 and the Tehran School of Political Sciences established in 1899.
Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), also called the Tehran Polytechnic, is a public technological university located in Tehran, Iran. Founded in 1958, AUT is the oldest technical university established in Iran.
Shiraz University is a public university located in Shiraz, Fars, Iran, established in 1946. Being one of the oldest and most prestigious modern universities in Iran, Shiraz University is listed among the top three research-oriented schools in the nation according to a ranking of Iranian universities based on scientific output. In the first report of state universities ranking and among almost 70 universities and higher education institutes, Shiraz University is regarded as first-level university.
Arab Canadians come from all of the countries of the Arab world. According to the 2021 Census, there were 690,000 Canadians, or 1.9%, who claimed Arab ancestry. According to the 2011 census there were 380,620 Canadians who claimed full or partial ancestry from an Arabic-speaking country. The large majority of the Canadians of Arab origin population live in either Ontario or Quebec.
Iranian Canadians or Persian Canadians are Canadians of Iranian origin. From the 2016 Canadian census, the main communities can be found in Southern Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. The vast majority, however, live in northern suburbs of Toronto such as Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Markham, and Thornhill, and in certain municipalities of Vancouver, including North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, and Coquitlam. As of 2016 a total of 97,110 Iranians reside in the Greater Toronto Area, 46,255 in the Greater Vancouver Area, and 23,410 in the Greater Montreal Area, with the remainder spread out in the other major cities of Canada, based on the 2016 Canadian Census. These numbers represent the people who stated "Iranian" as their single or joint ethnic origin in the census survey.
The University of Damascus is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus, with campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 as the Syrian University through the merger of the Medical School and the Institute of Law. It adopted its current name after the founding of the University of Aleppo in 1958.
Christianity, which originated in the Middle East during the 1st century AD, is a significant minority religion within the region, characterized by the diversity of its beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of the Old World. Christians now make up approximately 5% of the Middle Eastern population, down from 13% in the early 20th century. Cyprus is the only Christian majority country in the Middle East, with Christians forming between 76% and 78% of the country's total population, most of them adhering to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Lebanon has the second highest proportion of Christians in the Middle East, around 40%, predominantly Maronites. Egypt has the next largest proportion of Christians, at around 10% of its total population. Copts, numbering around 10 million, constitute the single largest Christian community in the Middle East.
Swedish Iranians or Swedish Persians consist of people of Iranian nationality who have settled in Sweden, as well as Swedish residents and citizens of Iranian heritage. As of 2019, there were 80,136 residents of Sweden born in Iran, as well as 40,883 born in Sweden with at least one Iranian-born parent.
Nassar, is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer, or Nacer. People with the surname include:
The U.S. Census Bureau defines Asian regions as: ... Western Asia includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
This derives from a 1915 court ruling in Dow v. United States, in which a Syrian American, George Dow, appealed his being classified by the government as Asian. At the time, such a designation resulted in the denial of citizenship under the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Today, most of the 500,000-strong Armenian population...
...1.5 million Armenian-Americans...
Here in the U.S., you can see our person-to-person relationships growing stronger each day. You can see it in the 13,000 Turkish students that are studying here in the U.S. You can see it in corporate leaders like Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca-Cola, and you can see it in more than one million Turkish-Americans who add to the rich culture and fabric of our country.
Over 3 million Turkish Americans live in various states across the united states. They have had a significant impact on the united states' culture, achievements, and history.
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