30 Interesting Facts About Lebanon

Lebanon is a country in Western Asia’s Levant region and the Middle East’s transcontinental region.It is a small nation with a wide variety of cultures. It’s about 160 kilometers long and 56 kilometers wide at its widest point. The dominant culture is profoundly conservative and shows a high regard for tradition and customs.

1. Lebanon is bounded to the north and east by Syria, to the south by Israel, and to the west by the Mediterranean Sea.
2. The country’s history dates back to 5000 years old, making it one of the oldest countries in the world.
3. Basketball is one of the most popular sports of the country and even the national sports.
4. Being a small country, it has one of the highest gold reserves with 286.83 tonnes. It has second highest gold reserves among Arab countries and 18th worldwide.
5. Lebanon is the 7th smallest country in the Asian continent.
6. In 332 BCE, the country was under the rule of King Alexander the Great.
7. In the 16th century, the Ottomans conquered Lebanon and ruled it for over 400 years. The empire collapsed after World War 1.
8. Qurnat as Sawda’ is the highest mountain peak in the country with an elevation of 3,088 meters (10131.23 ft).
9. The striped hyena is the national animal of Lebanon.
10. The country also does have a national dish which is the Kibbeh.
11. Due to religious balance being a sensitive political issue, a national census of the citizens has not been conducted by the government since the year 1932.
12. Since 1945, it is illegal to raise any foreign country flag in Lebanon.
13. Some strange laws are still followed in the country, for example: if one day your neighbor decided to commit suicide by jumping from the building and it happened that he landed on your car parked down below, you will be arrested and convicted for the complicity of murder.
14. According to a study conducted by Statistics Lebanon, 54% of the population is Muslim (27% Shia; 27% Sunni), 5.6% is Druze, 40.4% follow Christianity (21% Maronite, 8% Greek Orthodox, 5% Melkite, 6.4% other Christian denominations like Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, and others).
15. Phoenix is the national bird of the country.
16. The country has the most number of Christian people than any other middle east country.
17. Lebanon ranks 3rd on the globe in terms of most refugees. The country has roughly 1,424,592 people as refugees on their land.
18. In Lebanon, it is legal if two people own the same property of land.
19. The total Lebanese population is estimated at 13 to 18 million, out of which 8.6 – 14 million people constitute part of the Lebanese diaspora (residing outside of Lebanon).
20. The law school of Beirut of Lebanon is the world’s first law school.
21. Around $8.2 billion of money is sent by the Lebanese people to their families who are residing outside the countries. This counts for one-fifth of the country’s economy.
22. Lebanon is the only country in the middle east to have no desert area.
23. The main time of rain in the country is during the winter (December to mid of March).
24. Lebanon has 22 rivers, and none of them is navigable.
25. Lebanon comes on the 6th rank in terms of cigarette consumption. Every year a smoker consumes 2,037.5 cigarettes on average.
26. Lebanon’s biggest exports are scrap iron ($198M), jewelry ($249M), polyacetals ($268M), diamonds ($439M), and gold ($201M). The majority of these exports go to the United Arab Emirates ($956M), Egypt ($234M), Syria ($370M), Egypt ($201M), the United States ($201M), and Turkey ($164M).
27. Lebanese imports are primarily from China ($2.8B), Turkey ($2.69B), Greece ($1.78B), United Arab Emirates ($1.41B), Italy ($1.08B), and refined petroleum ($5.12B), cars ($1.13B), gold ($987M), broadcasting equipment ($624M), and diamonds ($427M).
28. About 12.9 % of the total land of the country is arable. Whereas 13.3 % of the total area (or 139,376 hectares) is covered in forest.
29. Byblos is the largest city in Lebanon. It is believed that it was first occupied between the year 8800 and 7000 BC and continuously inhabited since 5000 BC, making it the oldest city in the country and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world.
30. The future of Light’s Fort is the oldest building in the country.