Total population | |
---|---|
From 8 to possibly 15 million [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Saudi Arabia | 449,314 (2022 census) [2] |
Languages | |
Native: Syrian Arabic Also Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, French, English, German, Swedish, Finnish, Turkish | |
Religion | |
Islam, Christianity, Druze, Syrian Jews |
Syrian diaspora refers to Syrian people and their descendants who chose or were forced to emigrate from Syria and now reside in other countries as immigrants, or as refugees of the Syrian Civil War.
The estimated number of people of Syrian descent residing outside Syria ranges from 8 to 13 million. [3] : 1 The UNHCR reports that 4.9 million global refugees in 2015 were Syrian nationals. [4] The Syrian nationality law does not grant diaspora Syrians an automatic right of return to Syria, and under the controversial 2018 Absentees Law, the Assad government confiscated property of millions of Syrians. [5] [6]
Country | Estimate | Upper Estimate | Region | Country article in English Wikipedia |
---|---|---|---|---|
+ | ||||
Brazil | 1,000,000 according to a research 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 caucasoid Brazilian respondents said they had family origins in the Middle East [7] | 4,000,000 people of Syrian ancestry (according to Brazilian government) [8] | South America | Syrian Brazilian |
Turkey | 3,611,834 registered (December 2018) [9] | Europe Asia | Syrians in Turkey | |
Lebanon | 950,334 registered (December 2018) [10] | Middle East | Syrians in Lebanon | |
Jordan | 671,148 registered (December 2018) [11] | 1,400,000 estimated (August 2015) [12] | Middle East | Syrians in Jordan |
Germany | 1,281,000 (2023) [13] | European Union | Syrians in Germany | |
Argentina | 1,500,000 | 2,000,000 | South America | Syrian Argentine |
Saudi Arabia | 449,314 (2022 census) [14] | 449,000 | Middle East | Syrians in Saudi Arabia |
Iraq | 252,772 estimated (December 2018) [15] | Middle East | ||
Sudan | 250,000 estimated (2017) [16] | Africa | ||
United Arab Emirates | >250,000 estimated (2016) [17] [18] | Middle East | Syrians in the United Arab Emirates | |
Sweden | 242،150 (2019) [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] | European Union | Syrians in Sweden | |
United States | 187,331 (by ancestry, 2016 U.S Census Bureau) [24] | 286,200 | North America | Syrian American |
Egypt | 132,553 estimated (December 2018) [25] | North Africa and Middle East | ||
Kuwait | 120,000 estimated (2015) [26] | Middle East | Syrians in Kuwait | |
Canada | 98,250 (by ancestry, 2021 Census ) [27] | North America | Syrian Canadian | |
Greece | 88,204 (2015) [28] | European Union | Syrians in Greece | |
Austria | 68,000 (2019) [29] [30] | European Union | Syrians in Austria | |
France | 44,000 (2020) [31] | European Union | Syrians in France | |
Australia | 29,096 (Syrian-born resident, 2021) [32] | Oceania | Syrian Australians | |
Israel | 24,800 (2019) [33] | 115,000 | Middle East | |
Venezuela | 15,632 (Syrian-born resident, 2015) [34] | 1,000,000 Venezuelans of Syrian descent [35] [36] [37] [38] | Latin America | Syrian Venezuelan |
Finland | 10,403 (2022) [39] | European Union | Syrians in Finland | |
Algeria | 10,000 [40] (Jan 2013) | 25,000 estimated [40] (Jan 2013) | North Africa | |
United Kingdom | 8,848 England & Wales [41] unknown in Scotland [42] and 2,000 in Northern Ireland. [43] (2019) [44] | Europe | Syrians in the United Kingdom |
Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest state in the Arab world, with a reported population of 32,175,224 as of 2022. 41.6% of inhabitants are immigrants. Saudi Arabia has experienced a population explosion in the last 40 years, and continues to grow at a rate of 1.62% per year.
Ensuring national security, increasing influence among its Arab neighbours and securing the return of the Golan Heights, have been the primary goals of the Syrian Arab Republic's foreign policy. At many points in its history, Syria has seen tension with its neighbours, such as Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon. Syria enjoyed an improvement in relations with several of the states in its region in the 21st century, prior to the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War.
Arab diaspora is a term that refers to descendants of the Arab emigrants who, voluntarily or as forcibly, migrated from their native lands to non-Arab countries, primarily in the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, and West Africa.
Refugees of Iraq are Iraqi nationals who have fled Iraq due to war or persecution. In 1980- 2017, large number of refugees fled Iraq, peaking with the Iraq War and continuing until the end of the War in Iraq (2013–2017). Precipitated by a series of conflicts including the Kurdish rebellions during the Iran–Iraq War, Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait (1990) and the Gulf War (1991), the subsequent sanctions against Iraq (1991–2003), culminating in the Iraq War and the subsequent War in Iraq (2013–2017), millions were forced by insecurity to flee their homes in Iraq. Iraqi refugees established themselves in urban areas in other countries rather than refugee camps.
Syrians are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, who have Arabic, especially its Levantine dialect, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. By the seventh century, most of the inhabitants of the Levant spoke Aramaic. In the centuries after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 634, Arabic became the dominant language, but a minority of Syrians retained Aramaic (Syriac), which is still spoken in its Eastern and Western dialects.
The Somali diaspora or Qurbajoogta refers to Somalis who were born in Greater Somalia and reside in areas of the world that they were not born in. The civil war in Somalia greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many Somalis moved from Greater Somalia primarily to Europe, North America, Oceania and South Africa. There are also small Somali populations in Asia. The UN estimates that in 2015, approximately 2 million people from Somalia were living outside of the country's borders.
The Iraqi diaspora refers to native Iraqis who have left for other countries as emigrants or refugees, and is now one of the largest in modern times, being described by the UN as a "humanitarian crisis" caused by the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 invasion of Iraq and by the ensuing war.
The Egyptian diaspora consists of citizens of Egypt abroad sharing a common culture and Egyptian Arabic language. The phenomenon of Egyptians emigrating from Egypt was rare until Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power after overthrowing the monarchy in 1952. Before then, Cleland's 1936 declaration remained valid, that "Egyptians have the reputation of preferring their own soil. Few ever leave except to study or travel; and they always return... Egyptians do not emigrate".
Venezuelans are the citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connections exist and are the source of their Venezuelan citizenship or their bond to Venezuela.
Arab Venezuelans refers to Venezuelan citizens of Arab origin or descent. There are around 1,600,000 Venezuelans of Arab origin, mainly from Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. Most Arab Venezuelans are of Syrian descent with their number between 400,000 and 1 million inhabitants, and Lebanese descent with their number between 341,000 and 500,000.
Afghan diaspora refers to the Afghan people that reside and work outside of Afghanistan. They include natives and citizens of Afghanistan who have immigrated to other countries. The majority of the diaspora has been formed by Afghan refugees since the start of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979; the largest numbers temporarily reside in Iran. As stateless refugees or asylum seekers, they are protected by the well-established non-refoulement principle and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The ones having at least one American parent are further protected by United States laws.
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in Saudi Arabia are the largest community of expatriates in the country, with most of them coming from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and most recently, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Refugees of the Syrian civil war are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian civil war. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide. It is often described as one of the largest refugee crises in history.
The Zaatari refugee camp is a refugee camp in Jordan, located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Mafraq, which has gradually evolved into a permanent settlement; it is the world's largest camp for Syrian refugees. It was first opened on 28 July 2012 to host Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing Syrian War that erupted in March 2011. It is connected to the road network by a short road which leads to Highway 10.
The Venezuelan refugee crisis, the largest recorded refugee crisis in the Americas, refers to the emigration of millions of Venezuelans from their native country during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro since the Bolivarian Revolution. The revolution was an attempt by Chávez and later Maduro to establish a cultural and political hegemony, which culminated in the crisis in Venezuela. The resulting refugee crisis has been compared to those faced by Cuban exiles, Syrian refugees and those affected by the European migrant crisis. The Bolivarian government has denied any migratory crisis, stating that the United Nations and others are attempting to justify foreign intervention within Venezuela.
As of September 2015, the number of Syrians in Saudi Arabia is estimated to be around 449,000 and consists mainly of temporary foreign workers. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' representative for the Persian Gulf region, Syrian nationals are referred to as "Arab brothers and sisters in distress". Saudi Arabia does not consider Syrians as refugees. They are provided access to education and healthcare, and allowed to take up jobs like other expats.
Syrian Venezuelans refers to Venezuelan citizens of Syrian origin. Syrians are the largest immigrant group of Arabic origin in Venezuela.
Venezuelans in Syria consist mostly of migrants, from Venezuela and their descendants in Syria.
Syria hopes will serve as an avenue to attract investment dollars from the one-million-strong community of Venezuelans of Syrian descent
En Venezuela residen un poco más de 700 mil árabes de origen sirio
Se calcula que cerca de un millón de habitantes del país tiene origen sirio, personal o familiar.
de acuerdo con el Instituto de Estadística de Venezuela, cerca de un millón de venezolanos tienen orígenes sirios y más de 20 mil venezolanos están registrados en el catastro del consulado sudamericano en Damasco.