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

emigrants 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 ...

who, voluntarily or as refugees, emigrated from their native lands to non-Arab countries, primarily in Central America, South America, Europe,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and parts of Southeast Asia, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, and West Africa. In a more specific view, emigrants from Arab countries, such as

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

or the Palestinian territories, also make up important national groups of their countries' diaspora in other Arab states, such as the Gulf states or Saudi Arabia.

Overview

Arab expatriates contribute to the circulation of financial and human capital in the region and thus significantly promote regional development. In 2009 Arab countries received a total of US$35.1 billion in

remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes wit ...

in-flows and remittances sent to Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries. Large numbers of Arabs migrated to West Africa, particularly

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, Senegal,Lebanese Immigrants Boost West African Commerce
By Naomi Schwarz, voanews.com, 10 July 2007 Sierra Leone,

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

, and Nigeria.Lebanese man shot dead in Nigeria
BBC News Since the end of the civil war in 2002, Lebanese traders have become re-established in Sierra Leone. According to

Saudi Aramco World ''Aramco World'' (formerly ''Saudi Aramco World'') is a bi-monthly magazine published by Aramco Services Company, a US-based subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The first issue of the magazine a ...

, the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Arab World is in Brazil, which has 9 million

Brazilians Brazilians ( pt, Brasileiros, ) are the citizens of Brazil. A Brazilian can also be a person born abroad to a Brazilian parent or legal guardian as well as a person who acquired Brazilian citizenship. Brazil is a multiethnic society, which me ...

of Arab ancestry. Of these 9 million Arabs, 6 million are of Lebanese ancestry, making Brazil's population of Lebanese equivalent to that of Lebanon itself. However, these figures are contradicted by the

Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...

(IBGE), which is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical information in Brazil. According to the 2010 Brazilian census conducted by IBGE, there were only 12,336 Lebanese nationals living in Brazil and other Arab nationalities were so small that they were not even listed. The Brazilian census does not ask about ancestry or family origin. There is a question about nationality and, according to the Brazilian law, any person born in Brazil is a Brazilian national by birth and right for any purpose, nationally or internationally - not an Arab.Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988
Government of Brazil . The last Brazilian census to ask about family origin was conducted in 1940. At that time, 107,074 Brazilians said they had a Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi or Arab father. Native Arabs were 46,105 and naturalized Brazilians were 5,447. In 1940, Brazil had 41,169,321 inhabitants, hence Arabs and their children were 0.38% of Brazil's population in 1940.IBG
Censo brasileiro de 1940

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 ...

,Habeeb Salloum, "Arabs Making Their Mark in Latin America: Generations of Immigrants in Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico"
''Al Jadid'', Vol. 6, no. 30 (Winter 2000). Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico and Chile.

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

cluster in Chile and Central America, particularly

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. The Palestinian community in Chile is the fourth largest in the world after those in Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Arab Haitians Arab Haitians are Haitian citizens of Arab descent. In Haiti, there are a sizable number of Haitians that are either of Middle-Eastern Arab ancestry or who trace their origins to Arab descendants. Hadrami and Levantine Arabic ancestry can be fo ...

(a large number of whom live in the capital) are more often than not, concentrated in financial areas where the majority of them establish businesses. In the United States, there are around 3.5 million people of Arab ancestry. It has been estimated that there are as many as four million Indonesians with at least partial Arab ancestry. They are generally well-integrated socially with Indonesian society, and identify as Indonesians. In the 2010 census, 118,886 people, amounting to 0.05% of the population, identified themselves as being of Arab ethnicity.

References

Notes Citations

External links

*
International Organization for Migration - Regional Office for the Middle East

Lebanese Social and Cultural Community in Ireland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arab Diaspora

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

North African diaspora Middle Eastern diaspora

Overview

See also

References

Further reading

External links