The deficiency of official statistics makes a demographic analysis of Lebanese society a difficult task. Because of the precarious and delicate sectarian arrangement in the body politic, the government has deliberately avoided conducting a comprehensive update of the 1932 census. Christian communities, primarily the Maronites, fear that the numerical preponderance of Muslims would eventually strip them of their privileges by changing the foundations of political representation. When the French Mandate government conducted the 1932 census, it enumerated 861,399 Lebanese, including those living abroad, most of whom were identified as Christians. The distribution of parliamentary seats among the confessions was based on the findings of the 1932 census; the ratio of six Christians to five Muslims, including Druzes, has been retained.

The 1997 around population was 3,111,828, but this figure, provided by the Lebanese government, does not include Palestinian refugees and foreign workers, mainly Syrian. An independent 2001 estimate placed the population at 3,627,774, yielding a population density of 347 persons per sq km .Densities are highest along the coast and on the lower western slopes of the Lebanon Mountans. Some 89 % of the population is urban.Ethnically, the Lebanese compose a mixture in which Phoenician, Greek, Armenian, and Arab elements are discernible. Arabic is the official language, but French and English are widely spoken. A small %age of the population is Armenian-speaking, and Syriac is used in some of the churches of the Maronites.