The Lebanese people are those who live in or are descended from the country of Lebanon. Prior to the establishment of the contemporary Lebanese state, inhabitants of Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountains may have been referred to as "Mount Lebanon people." Shia Muslims (27 percent), Sunni Muslims (27 percent), Maronite Christians (21 percent), Greek Orthodox Christians (8 percent), Melkite Christians (5 percent), Druze (5.6 percent), and Protestant Christians (5.6 percent) are the primary religious groupings among the Lebanese people in Lebanon (1 percent ). The greatest contingent of Lebanese, on the other hand, is made up of a diaspora spread over North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Africa, which is largely Maronite Christian.
Lebanon has not gathered official census data on ethnic origin since the French Mandate in 1932, owing to the political sensitivity of the relative proportions of the different religions inside the country. As a result, it is impossible to do a precise demographic study of Lebanese culture and society. Brazilians of Lebanese ancestry may constitute the world's largest concentration of people of Lebanese ancestry, with an estimated population of 5.8 to 7 million people; however, this may be an exaggeration, given that a recent official survey by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) revealed that less than 1 million Brazilians claimed any Middle-Eastern ancestry. The Lebanese have traditionally been globe travellers, with many of them staying in permanent residences, particularly in the previous two centuries.
Christian minorities in Lebanon have lost their majority status, owing to a decline in the number of people who have returned home. However, Christians continue to be one of the most significant religious groups in the nation. Descendants of Lebanese Christians constitute the vast majority of Lebanese people around the globe, with the bulk of them living in the diaspora.