August 3, 2012
Each country in South America has a different profile. Some are completely different. All they share is a common Latin language; and even that shows heavy dialectal differences.
Likewise, the Arabs among them show the same differences.
| Country | Numbers of Arabs | % of Population | Ethnic Makeup of Arabs (N/A to Suriname) |
Religious Makeup of Arabs (not of total population) |
| Argentina | ~ 3 – 4,000,0001 | ~ 9% | Mostly Syrian and Lebanese | 80 – 90% Christian |
| Bolivia | ~ 70,000 | ~ 0.6% | Various | Heavily Christian, only 2000 Muslims in Bolivia |
| Brazil | ~ 12 – 15,000,0002 | ~ 6% | Mostly Lebanese and Syrian | Over 95% Christian |
| Colombia | ~ 1,500,0003 | ~ 3% | A mix of everything. | Mostly Roman Catholic4 |
| Chile | 800,000 | 5% | Half or more Palestinian | 99+% Christian |
| Ecuador | ~100,000 | ~ 0.6% | Mostly Lebanese5 | Almost all Catholic 2000 Muslims (Click Here) |
| El Salvador | small | small | Mostly Palestinian and Lebanese6 | Almost all Catholic |
| Honduras | 250,000 | ~ 3% | Heavily Palestinian7 | About 97% Christian |
| Mexico | 1,100,000A1 (unreliable) |
1% (probably much higher) |
Almost half are Lebanese | 99+% Christian |
| Paraguay | 200,000+ | ~3% | Only able to get figures for Lebanese | 99+% Christian Under 1,000 Muslims |
| Peru | 1,750,000 | ~5% | Many are assimilated and probably unaware of Arab ancestry |
99+% Christian Only ~15,000 Muslims |
| Surimame | 81,0008 | ~ 13.9% | Indonesian, Asians, Arabs, Africans Muslims, not necessarily Arabs |
Not Applicable |
| Uruguay | 50-70,000 | ~ 2% | Mostly Lebanese. | Almost all Christian |
| Venezuela | ~1,600,000 | ~ 5% | A mix of everything. | Almost all Christian |
1Numbers vary. Fearab Argentina claims 4 million / 10%. Others claim less. But there is a large amount of intermarriage now. 9% is a good estimate.
2Numbers vary, but the estimate of Lebanese-Brazilians alone is 7 Million, so 12 – 15 million for all Arabs is a conservative estimate. In 2017, the president of Brazil was Michel Temer, who is of Christian Lebanese descent.
3Very rough estimate. Doubled number of Lebanese. The key was that many arrived as Eastern Christian, but the Maronites are affiliated with Roman Catholicism. So those who arrived as Eastern Christian were probably not Lebanese.
4Many arrived as Eastern Christians, but became Roman Catholic
5Wikipedia reports varying figures. From 20,000 (official) to 97,500 (private figures). However given the tendency of Lebanese Maronites to not identify as Arabs, and given their incredible tendency to assimilate rapidly, the higher numbers are probably more reasonable. Most, however, would be intermarried with other ethnics, which might explain why they do not show up on official figures. Ecuador has had 3 presidents with Lebanese ancestry, so we have to assume the higher figures were more accurate. What is clear is that they still constitute less than 1% of the population. To produce 3 presidents shows their elite status.
6Though small, El Salvador has had a president of Palestinian ancestry. Antonio Saca. His opponent, Schafik Handal, in the election was also Palestinian. Even more amazing, Saca, the winner, is a devout Evangelical.
7Former President Carlos Roberto Flores Facussé’s mother was Palestinian born.
8Suriname is 13.9% Muslim; however, it is not clear how much of these are Arabs, or the relic Islam of black slaves or the descendents of Javanese/Indonesian/Asian laborers. I used the Muslim figure. Suriname was populated by peoples from the former Dutch empire, and the Arabs in the country may be minimal. The country also is: 48.4% Christian, 22.3% Hindu, with various indigineous religions as well. Guyana and Suriname are members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
A1Mexican figures are totally unreliable. I have seen numbers from 1 to 5 million.
What must be remembered, however, is that Suriname and the Guyanas have very small populations. In total, not even equal to a good size Latin America city. Their Muslims are usually not even Arab, but often descended from Indonesians or Asians brought over the the colonial powers.
NOTE: The data can be tricky to collect.
As a rule, if you just look for Arab-Argentine or Arab-Brazilian in Wikipedia or another source, the population numbers cited will sometimes be low, and quite often less than Lebanese-Argentine or Lebanese-Brazilian. There is a history to this. The persecution of Lebanese Maronite Catholics by Muslims made the Lebanese-Christians consider themselves as Phoenician Westerners, NOT Arabs. Hence, Lebanese Maronites often refuse to be classified with other Arabs, and so demographic statistics for Arabs can be woefully underestimated.
One often gets ridiculous statistics for Argentina and the USA where there are more Lebanese listed than Arabs, which is an impossibility, as Lebanese are a subset of Arabs in general. The subset cannot be greater than the whole.
A good rule of thumb is to roughly double the amount of Lebanese – maybe add 10% on top of that. When you keep that in mind, and do some cross-checking, the numbers often make sense.
For example: Doubling the number of Lebanese-Argentines and adding 10% comes close to the 3.5 – 4 million Arab-Argentines claimed by Fearab Argentina.
A) Lebanese-Argentine figures are 1.5 Million according to Wikipedia.
B) Double that to get 3 Million
C) Add 10% to that, and one gets 3.3 Million, which is close to the high estimate of 3.5 Million Arab-Argentines in Wikipedia. Note: that Wikipedia gives a low estimate of 1.3 Million Arab-Argentines. The low estimate is ridiculous since Wikipedia lists 1.5 Million Lebanese-Argentines alone.
Mexico is another classic example. 45% of the Arabs in Mexico are Lebanese. Double that 45% figure and you get 90%. Add 10% to the 90%, and you get 100% of the Arabs. The rule is generally true, with the exceptions of Chile and Honduras where Palestinians are high in percentage numbers.
For my discussion about the difficulty caused by Maronite misidentification: (Click Here)
RELIGION: Do not trust Wikipedia’s statistics for Islam. The imams often rely on dated statistics. For ex:
The imams of Argentina claimed 3 million Muslims.
The census claims only 400-700,000 Muslims.
The number of Christian Arabs is over 3,000,000.
The reality is that less than 20,000 Muslims are practicing. The rest will intermarry into Christianity over time.
The media goes to imams for statistics and we get exaggerated news reports of creeping Islam in Latin America; but the reports lack substance.
The number of practicing Muslims in South America is rather small, in spite of media exaggerations.
The numbers of Muslims is changing, but South America is also in the midst of a major Evangelical Revival which is sweeping up tens of millions, so do not be confused if the news reports many more Muslims in Brazil. In the same period of time there are probably 10 Million more Pentecostal Christians. Traditional Islam has no experience of competing against Western Evangelical Christianity, and may not be able to compete against it.
