Lebanon

AsiaCapital city: BeirutCapital metro: BeirutPresident: Joseph AounPrime Minister: Nawaf Salam
2026 population
5.9M
Rank #118 globally
Area
10k km² (4k sq mi)
Metros tracked
2
39% of population in metros
Composite score
10.0
Rank #101 globally

population: Official estimate (2026) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 2 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography2 metros

Lebanon metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
2 polygons

Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 2 tracked metros
2 metros
#273Beirut★ Capital▲ Largest
Jabal Lubnān [Mount Lebanon] · Bayrūt [Beirut] · 2.1M · Established Metro
9.7
Lubnān ash-Shamālī [North Lebanon] · 705K · Local Metro
0.2
🗂️ Governorates

8 entries listed under Lebanon. Select any to see its metros and footprint.

8 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
Arabic
Government
Parliamentary republic
Legislature
Parliament of Lebanon
Demonym
Lebanese
Time zones
Eastern European Summer Time, Eastern European Time, UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+961
Internet TLD
.lb
ISO 3166
LB
Established
1943
Highest point
Qurnat as Sawda' (3,088 m (10,131 ft))
National anthem
Lebanese national anthem

Facts via Wikidata.

🗣️ Languages of Lebanon

Levantine Arabic first; 4 languages share the country; 1 official.

LanguageShareStatus
Levantine Arabic100%None
Standard Arabic86%Official
English40%None
French38%None
Eastern Armenian5.2%None
Kurdish1.7%None

Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.

English reach
40%
Tier 3 country
Effective languages
1.0
Official-language gap
14%
Standard Arabic is spoken by 86%

Lebanon on the languages board · Language power

💹 Economy and developmentLower middle income
Human Dev. Index
#101 / 191
0.752
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#119 / 193
$26.0B
World Bank · 2024
GDP per capita
#125 / 193
$4.5k
World Bank · 2024
GDP/capita (PPP)
#123 / 190
$11.9k
World Bank · 2024
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#134 / 192
$3.6k
World Bank · 2024
Life expectancy
#57 / 194
77.9 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
28.3 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#17 / 194
91%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
0.7%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#11 / 193
564/km² (1,462/mi²)
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#22 / 193
24.5%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#127 / 175
0.29
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#85 / 166
35.5
World Bank · 2022
Internet users
#98 / 193
81%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#172 / 185
14.6%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#95 / 192
2.7 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#75 / 186
44%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations2 full memberships

Political & Economic

Regional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History20 leaders · click to expand

Second Republic (post-Taif)

Nawaf Salam✦ Current
Prime Minister · Independent · 2025–present
2025–Present
Joseph Aoun✦ Current
President · Independent · 2025–present
2025–Present
Najib Mikati
Prime Minister · Azm Movement · 2021–2025 (incl. caretaker)
2021–2025
Hassan Diab
Prime Minister · Independent · 2020–2021
2020–2021
Saad Hariri
Prime Minister · Future Movement · 2016–2020 (multiple terms)
2016–2020
Michel Aoun
President · Free Patriotic Movement · 2016–2022
2016–2022
Michel Suleiman
President · Independent · 2008–2014
2008–2014
Fouad Siniora
Prime Minister · Future Movement · 2005–2009
2005–2009
Émile Lahoud
President · 1998–2007
1998–2007
Rafic Hariri
Prime Minister · Future Movement · 1992–1998
1992–1998
Elias Hrawi
President · 1989–1998
1989–1998

First Republic (1943–1990)

René Moawad
President · 1989
1989–1989
Amine Gemayel
President · Kataeb Party · 1982–1988
1982–1988
Elias Sarkis
President · 1976–1982
1976–1982
Suleiman Frangieh
President · Marada Movement · 1970–1976
1970–1976
Charles Helou
President · 1964–1970
1964–1970
Fuad Chehab
President · 1958–1964
1958–1964
Camille Chamoun
President · National Liberal Party · 1952–1958
1952–1958
Riad al-Solh
Prime Minister · 1943–1945 (first independence PM)
1943–1945
Bechara El Khoury
President · 1943–1952
1943–1952
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#95 · 0.1%
3%5%8%10%19502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)

The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Wars and conflicts3 interstate wars · click to expand
Lebanese Armed Forces,Internal Security Forces
Combat deaths: —
Lebanese Front
Combat deaths: 21,902+
Combat deaths: 13,073–26,373

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.” Figures marked “COW battle deaths” are Correlates of War battle-death counts, which run lower than total deaths.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
5.8m
#116 in the world
Since 1800
19×
from 300k
Past its peak
−10.8%
peaked at 6.5m in 2015
Share of world
0.07%
0.03% in 1800
1.6m3.2m4.9m6.5m18001850190019502000

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Lebanon is past its peak, which is less unusual than it sounds: the two lines here can point in opposite directions, and for most of Europe and East Asia they now both point down.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Lebanon: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
2080
7.5m on the UN median
2050
7.0m
95% band 4.4m to 10.8m
2100
7.2m
95% band 2.4m to 20.0m
2100 against 2025
1.23×
median falling from 2081
Deaths outnumber births
from 2081
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
5.3m10.5m15.8m21.0m1950197520002025205020752100
estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
56k born · 18k died · 0 net migration
TFR 5.80 · life expectancy 59.9 · median age 22.0
1960
71k born · 18k died · 0 net migration
TFR 5.88 · life expectancy 63.9 · median age 18.9
1970
80k born · 19k died · -5k net migration
TFR 5.19 · life expectancy 66.0 · median age 17.1
1980
93k born · 30k died · +2k net migration
TFR 4.01 · life expectancy 59.9 · median age 18.7
1990
100k born · 26k died · -7k net migration
TFR 3.27 · life expectancy 65.5 · median age 20.5
2000
92k born · 20k died · +455 net migration
TFR 2.60 · life expectancy 73.9 · median age 23.2
2010
94k born · 21k died · -41k net migration
TFR 2.26 · life expectancy 77.5 · median age 26.8
2020
96k born · 37k died · -48k net migration
TFR 2.31 · life expectancy 76.3 · median age 27.8

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

💰 Billionaires6 · $13.9B combined · click to expand
Telecom · Telecom
$3.7B
Telecom · Telecom
$3.7B
#1856Bahaa Hariri(inherited)
Real Estate · Real estate, investments
$2.3B
#2612Robert Mouawad(inherited)
Service · Fine jewelry
$1.5B
#2804Ayman Hariri(inherited)
Construction & Engineering · Construction, investments
$1.4B
#3142Fahed Hariri(inherited)
Construction & Engineering · Construction, investments
$1.2B

Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.

🏆 National Teams

Lebanon on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.