Greek and Armenian refugee children near Athens, 1923

The phenomenon of large-scale

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

is the main reason why Christians' share of the population has been declining in many countries. Many

Muslim countries The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

have witnessed disproportionately high emigration rates among their Christian minorities for several generations. Today, most Middle Eastern people in the United States are Christians, and the majority of Arabs living outside the Arab World are

Arab Christians Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who l ...

. Push factors motivating Christians to emigrate include

religious discrimination Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular beliefs which they hold about a religion. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treated u ...

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

, and cleansing. Pull factors include prospects of upward mobility as well as joining relatives abroad.

Christian emigration from the Middle East

St Elias Antiochian Orthodox church Ottawa

Millions of people descend from Arab Christians and live in the

Arab diaspora Arab diaspora (also known as MENA diaspora, as a short version for the Middle East and North Africa diaspora) refers to descendants of the Arab people, Arab Emigration, emigrants who, voluntarily or as refugees, emigrated from their native lands ...

, outside the Middle East, they mainly reside in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

, but there are many people of Arab Christian descent in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

. The majority of Arabs living outside the Arab World are

. Christians have emigrated from the Middle East, a phenomenon that has been attributed to various causes included economic factors, political and military conflict, and feelings of insecurity or isolation among minority Christian populations. The higher rate of emigration among Christians, compared to other religious groups, has also been attributed to their having stronger support networks available abroad, in the form of existing emigrant communities. Christians had a significant impact contributing the culture of the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Today Christians still play important roles in the

, and Christians are relatively wealthy, well educated, and politically moderate. Historical events that caused large Christian emigration from the Middle East include: 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus,

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

Greek genocide The Greek genocide (, ''Genoktonia ton Ellinon''), which included the Pontic genocide, was the systematic killing of the Christians, Christian Ottoman Greeks, Ottoman Greek population of Anatolia which was carried out mainly during World War I ...

Assyrian genocide The Sayfo or the Seyfo (; see below), also known as the Assyrian genocide, was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian / Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish t ...

, 1915–1918 Great Famine of Mount Lebanon, 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey,

1948 Palestinian exodus In 1948 Estimates of the Palestinian Refugee flight of 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians, Palestinian Arabs – about half of prewar Mandatory Palestine, Palestine's Arab population – Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus, were expelled ...

, 1956–57 exodus and expulsions from Egypt,

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

, and the

Iraq war {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

Egypt

As with most diaspora Arabs, a substantial proportion of the Egyptian diaspora consists of

. The

Copts Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are C ...

have been emigrating from Egypt both to improve their economic situation and to escape systematic harassment and persecution in their homeland. The Coptic diaspora began primarily in the 1950s as result of

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

persecution of Copts The persecution of Copts and the discrimination against Copts, Coptic Orthodox Christians are historic and widespread issues in Egypt. They are also prominent examples of the poor status of Christianity in the Middle East, Christians in the Midd ...

and low income in Egypt.Seteney Shami, "'Aqualliyya/Minority in Modern Egyptian Discourse" in ''Words in Motion: Toward a Global Lexicon'' (eds. Carol Gluck & Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing: Duke University Press, 2009), p. 168.Ken Parry, ''The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), p. 107. After

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

rose to power, economic and social conditions deteriorated and many wealthier Egyptians, especially Copts, emigrated to Europe and the United States. 1956–1957 exodus and expulsions from Egypt was the exodus and expulsion of Egypt's

Mutamassirun The ( ar, متمصرون, plural, or in singular, literally "Egyptianized"Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, https://archive.org/stream/Arabic-englsihDictionary_part3#page/n203/mode/1up/search/mutamassir p. 1070]) refers to "Egyptianized ...

, which included the British and French colonial powers as well as Christian Greeks in Egypt, Greeks,

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

, Syro-Lebanese,

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

. Emigration increased following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and the emigration of poorer and less-educated Copts increased after 1972, when the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

and other religious groups began assisting Coptic immigration. Emigration of Egyptian Copts increased under

Anwar al-Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

(with many taking advantage of Sadat's " open door" policy to leave the country) and under

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

. Many Copts are university graduates in the professions, such as medicine and engineering."Diaspora, Copts in the" in ''The A to Z of the Coptic Church'' (ed. Gawdat Gabra:

Scarecrow Press Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, 2009), pp. 91–92. The new post-2011 migrants to the United States included both educated middle-class Copts and poorer, more rural Copt. The number of Copts outside

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

has sharply increased since the 1960s. The largest Coptic diaspora populations are in the United States, in Canada and in Australia, but Copts have a presence in many other countries.

Iran

Christians and other religious minorities make up a disproportionately high share of the

Iranian diaspora Iranian diaspora refers to Iranian people or those who are of Iranian ancestry living outside Iran.Islamic Revolution of 1979. The Assyrians residing in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and Russia tend to be from

. The

Iranian revolution of 1979 The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

greatly contributed to the influx of Middle Eastern Armenians to the US. The Armenian community in Iran was well established and integrated, but not assimilated, into local populations. Many lived in luxury in their former country, and more easily handled multilingualism, while retaining aspects of traditional

Armenian culture The culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the geography, literature, architecture, dance, and music of the people. Creative arts Literature Literature began in Armenia around 401 A.D. The majority of the literary ...

. The city of

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

in the

Los Angeles metropolitan area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

is widely thought to be the center of

Armenian American Armenian Americans ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in ...

life (although many Armenians live in the aptly named " Little Armenia" neighborhood of Los Angeles), there are also a great number of Armenian immigrants from Iran in

who, due to the religious restrictions and lifestyle limitations of the

Islamic government ''Islamic Government'' ( fa, حکومت اسلامی, ''Hokumat-i Eslami''), also known as ''The Jurist's Guardianship: Islamic Government'', ( fa, حکومت اسلامی ولایت فقیه, ''Velayat-e faqih: Hokumat-i Eslami '') Abrahamian, ...

, immigrated to the US, many to Glendale since it was where their relatives resided.

Iraq

Following the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, the Christian population of Iraq has collapsed. Of the nearly 1 million Assyro-Chaldean Christians, most have emigrated to the United States, Canada, Australia and within some of the countries in Europe, and most of the rest concentrated within the northern Kurdish enclave of

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

. With continuing insurgency, Iraqi Christians are under constant threat or radical Islamic violence. Since the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

-led

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

in 2003 and the resulting breakdown of law and order in that country, many

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

speaking Assyrians and other Christians have fled the country, taking refuge in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and further afield. Their percentage of the population has declined from 12% in 1948 (4.8 million population), to 7% in 1987 (20 million) and 6% in 2003 (27 million). Despite Assyrians making up only 3% of Iraq's population, in October 2005, the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

reported of the 700,000 Iraqis who took refuge in Syria between October 2003 and March 2005, 36% were "Iraqi Christians."

Lebanon

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

has experienced a large migration of Lebanese Christians for many generations. Currently, the number of

Lebanese people The Lebanese people ( ar, الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may also include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains prior to the creation ...

who live outside Lebanon (8.6-14 million), is higher than the number of Lebanese people who live within Lebanon (4.3 million). Most of the members of the diaspora population are

Lebanese Christians Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical Scriptures purport that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Lebanon was ...

, but some of them are Muslims, Druze and Jews. They trace their origins to several waves of Christian emigration, starting with the exodus that followed the 1860 Lebanon conflict in

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

. Under the current

Lebanese nationality law Lebanese nationality law governs the acquisition, transmission and loss of Lebanese citizenship. Lebanese citizenship is the status of being a citizen of Lebanon and it can be obtained by birth or naturalisation. Lebanese nationality is transmitt ...

, diaspora Lebanese do not have an automatic right of return to Lebanon. Due to varying degrees of assimilation and a high number of interethnic marriages, most diaspora Lebanese have not taught their children to speak the

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, but they still retain their Lebanese

ethnic identity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

. The

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

has further fed the higher Christian emigration rate. Higher Muslim birthrates, the presence of Palestinians in Lebanon and the presence of Syrian migrant workers have all contributed to the reduction of the Christian proportion of the Lebanese population. Lebanese Christians are still culturally and politically prominent, forming 35-40% of the population. Since the end of the Lebanese Civil War,

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

emigrants have outnumbered Christians, but the latter remain somewhat over-represented compared to their proportion of the population.

Ottoman Palestine

Iglesia ortodoxa de la Stma Virgen Maria 20171120 fRF02

The immigration of Palestinian Christians started in the 19th century as a result of the Ottoman discrimination against Christians. 1948 and 1967 occupations and wars made many Christians flee or lose their homes. In the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

, there has been considerable emigration and Palestinian Christians are disproportionately represented within the Palestinian diaspora. Most of Gazan Christians have fled the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

following the Hamas takeover in 2007, largely relocating to the West Bank. There are also many Palestinian Christians who are descendants of Palestinian refugees from the post-1948 era who fled to Christian-majority countries and formed large diaspora Christian communities. Worldwide, there are nearly one million Palestinian Christians in these territories as well as in the

Palestinian diaspora The Palestinian diaspora ( ar, الشتات الفلسطيني, ''al-shatat al-filastini''), part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine. History Palestinian individuals have a long history of ...

, comprising around 6–7% of the world's total Palestinian population.. Palestinian Christians live primarily in Arab states surrounding historic Palestine and in the diaspora, particularly in Europe and the

. Today,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

houses the largest Palestinian Christian community in the world outside of the Levant. As many as 350,000 Palestinian Christians reside in Chile, most of whom came from Beit Jala, Bethlehem, and

Beit Sahur Beit Sahour or Beit Sahur ( ar, بيت ساحور pronounced ; Palestine grid 170/123) is a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem, in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine. The city is under the administration of the Palestinian Nation ...

. Also,

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, and other Latin American countries have significant Palestinian Christian communities, some of whom immigrated almost a century ago during the time of

Ottoman Palestine Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

Syria

Catedral de Nossa Senhora do Paraíso, São Paulo

There are almost as many

Syrian people Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

living outside of Syria (15 million), as within (18 million). Most of the diaspora population is

Syrian Christians Syrian or Syriac Christians may refer to * Adherents of Christianity in Syria * Adherents of Syriac Christianity, various Christian bodies of Syriac traditions, especially: ** Syriac/Assyrian/Aramean people, Christian neo-Aramaic speakers through ...

. They trace their origin to several waves of Christian emigration, starting with the exodus during

. Syrian Christians tend to be relatively wealthy and highly

educated Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

.Why Do So Few Christian Syrian Refugees Register With The United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees?
Marwan Kreidie: Adjunct Professor of Political Science,

West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle ...

. Under the current

nationality law Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, that defines the legal manner in which a national identity is acquired and how it may be lost. In international law, the legal means to acquire nationality and for ...

, diaspora Syrians do not have an automatic right of return to Syria. Varying degrees of assimilation and the high degree of interethnic marriages caused most diaspora Syrians have not passed on

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

to their children, but they still maintain a Syrian

. The eruption of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 caused Christians to be targeted by militant Islamists and so they have become a major component of Syrian refugees. In FY 2016, when the US dramatically increased the number of refugees admitted from Syria, the US let in 12,587 refugees from Syria, with 99% being Muslims (few Shia Muslims were admitted). Less than 1% were Christian, according to the Pew Research Center analysis of the State Department Refugee Processing Center data. The religious affiliation of Syria's 17.2 million people in 2016 was approximately 74% Sunni Islam, 13% Alawi, Ismaili and Shia Islam, 10% Christian and 3% Druze. The population has declined by more than 6 million because of the civil war.

Turkey

Originally, most emigrants from what is now Turkey were Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire, including

Greek refugees Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the more than one million Greek Orthodox natives of Asia Minor, Thrace and the Black Sea areas who fled during the Greek genocide (1914-1923) and Greece's later defeat in the Greco-Turkish War ...

. Today, emigration from Turkey consists primarily of

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

The percentage of

in Turkey fell from 19% (possibly 24% because of Ottoman underestimates) in 1914 to 2.5% in 1927, due to events which significantly impacted the country's demographic structure, such as the

, the massacre of 500,000 Greeks, the massacre of 375,000 Assyrian Christians, the

population exchange between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...

, and the emigration of Christians (such as

Levantines The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

etc.) to foreign countries (mostly in

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

and

) that actually began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, especially during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and after the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

. Ottoman censuses underestimated the number of Christians, which was really close to 24.5% of the entire population, 4.3 million, not 3 million, as was reported. The decline is mainly due to the

, the

and the emigration of Christians that began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century. Emigration continued to occur in the 1980s, as Assyrian communities fled from the violence which was engulfing

Tur Abdin Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...

during the

Kurdish–Turkish conflict Kurdish nationalism, Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the prese ...

. Today, more than 160,000 people of different

Christian denominations Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

represent less than 0.2% of

's population, Today, more than 200,000-320,000 people who are members of different

live in Turkey, they make up roughly 0.3-0.4 percent of Turkey's population.

Christian emigration from Maghreb

Prior to independence,

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

was home to 1.4 million ''

pieds-noirs The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...

'' (ethnic French who were mostly Catholic), Morocco was home to half a million Christian

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

(mostly of Spanish and French ancestry),

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

was home to 255,000 Christian

(mostly of Italian and Maltese ancestry), and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

was home to 145,000 Christian

(mostly of Italian and Maltese ancestry). There are also Christian communities of Berber or Arab descent in Greater Maghreb, made up of persons who converted mostly during the modern era, or under and after

French colonialism The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existe ...

. Due to the exodus of the ''pieds-noirs'' and other Christian communities in the 1960s, more North African Christians of Berber or Arab descent now live in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

than in Greater

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

Christian emigration from South Asia

India

Christians have also migrated from India but for their own reasons and in small few numbers, as India has been considered as one of safest place for them in South Asia. Moreover, India has been one of the favourite tourist destination of the people of United States, Europe, and South Asia. For instance in India, Christians comprise 2.2% of the population of India. In 2011,

represented 16% of the total people of Indian origin in Canada. According to the 2011 Census,

represented 10% of the total people of Indian origin in the United Kingdom. According to 2014

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...

research, 18% of Indian Americans consider themselves 18% as Christian (Protestant 11%, Catholic 5%, other Christian 3%).

Pakistan

Christians have also fled

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, especially in response to the application of Islamic blasphemy laws.

Christian emigration from East Asia

China

Christians have also fled

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, especially in response to waves of

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within soc ...

has been a contributory factors in emigration from China since it's a self-proclaimed

communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...

, and its declared

state atheism State atheism is the incorporation of positive atheism or non-theism into political regimes. It may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments. It is a form of religion-state relationship that is usually ideologically li ...

. There is a significantly higher percentage of Chinese Christians in the United States than there is in China, as a large amount of Chinese Christians fled and are still fleeing to the United States under Communist persecution. According to the

's 2012 Asian-American Survey, 30% of

Chinese Americans Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

aged 15 and over identified as Christians (8% were Catholic and 22% belonged to a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

denomination).

North Korea

Christians have also fled from

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, especially in response to waves of

. The

persecution of Christians in North Korea The persecution of Christians in North Korea is an ongoing and systematic human rights issue in North Korea. According to multiple resolutions which have been passed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the North Korean government c ...

has contributed to their emigration because North Korea's government is a self-proclaimed

, and one of the guiding principles of its official ideology of

Juche ''Juche'' ( ; ), officially the ''Juche'' idea (), is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il-sung, the country's founder and ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Wusul.com - Gathering Middle East ChristiansChristian emigration reports, from the Catholic Near East Welfare Association
Emigration

Emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Refugees Religious demographics Refugees in Africa Refugees in Asia

Christian emigration from the Middle East

Egypt

Iran

Iraq

Lebanon

Ottoman Palestine

Syria

Turkey

Christian emigration from Maghreb

Christian emigration from South Asia

India

Pakistan

Christian emigration from East Asia

China

North Korea

See also

References

External links