Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

represent the major ethnicity in Syria, in addition to the presence of several, much smaller ethnic groups. Population map Syria & Liban (1935)

Ethnicity, religion and national/ideological identities

Ethnicity and religion are intertwined in Syria as in other countries in the region, but there are also nondenominational,

supraethnic Supraethnicity (from Latin prefix / "above" and Ancient Greek word / "ethnos = people") is a scholarly neologism, used mainly in social sciences as a formal designation for a particular structural category that lies "above" the basic level of eth ...

and suprareligious political identities, like

Syrian nationalism Syrian nationalism, also known as Pan-Syrian nationalism (or pan-Syrianism), refers to the nationalism of the region of Syria, as a cultural or political entity known as "Greater Syria". It should not be confused with the Arab nationalism that is ...

Counting the ethnic or religious groups

Since the 1960 census there has been no counting of Syrians by religion, and there has never been any official counting by ethnicity or language. In the 1943 and 1953 censuses the various denominations were counted separately, e.g. for every Christian denomination. In 1960

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 ...

were counted as a whole but

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 Abrah ...

were still counted separately between Sunnis and

Alawis The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isla ...

Ethnoreligious groups

Most Syrians speak Arabic, most are Sunni Muslims, but there are no accurate numbers or percentages of the various "majority" and "minority" groups. Sunni Arab Syrians could be anywhere between 70% and 79% as non-Arabic-speaking groups (mostly Kurds) are usually estimated at 4%, non-Sunni Muslim groups (mostly Alawites) at less than 10% and non Arabic and Arabic-speaking Christians are 10%, but these are only indicative percentages. *Muslim minority groups **

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

(most Syrian Kurds are Sunni) **Arabic-speaking or Turkmen Alawis **Arabic-speaking Ismailis **Arabic-speaking (Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi) and Iranian Twelver Shias **Sunni Muslim (and also Christian) Palestinians **Sunni and Alevi

Turkmens Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-weste ...

** Sunni Circassians ** Sunni Muslim Greeks **Muslim

Ossetians The Ossetians or Ossetes (, ; os, ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, translit= ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ, label=Ossetic) are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the no ...

Black people of Yarmouk Basin The Black people of Yarmouk Basin are an Afro-Arab ethnic group in Syria. Most live in southwestern Daraa Governorate. History Though their exact origin is unknown, some local stories report Sudan as ancestral homeland of the Yarmouk Basin' ...

*Christian minority groups **Arabic-speaking Christians (Greek-Orthodox, Greek-Catholics, Maronites and a part of the Syrian Catholics, some espouse a Syriac-Aramean identity) ** Assyrians, Aramaic speaking non-Arab people (including Chaldo-Assyrian Catholics, Assyrian Church of the East and Syriac Orthodox) and Syriacs (Orthodox) **

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 diasp ...

*Other groups ** Druze **

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

of various creeds **

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Yazidis Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...

are an

ethno-religious An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a grouping of people who are unified by a common religious and ethnic background. Furthermore, the term ethno-religious group, along with ethno-regional and ethno-linguistic groups, is a s ...

group and

Yezidism Yazidism , alternatively Sharfadin is a monotheistic ethnic religion that has roots in a western Iranic pre-Zoroastrian religion directly derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition. It is followed by the mainly Kurmanji-speaking Yazidis and is ...

(

Sharfadin Sheikh Sharaf ad-Dīn ibn al-Hasan () was the son and religious heir of al-Hasan ibn ‘Adī and thus head of the ‘Adawiyya order. He died in battle against the Mongols in 1258 and was succeeded by his uncle, Fakhr ad-Dīn ibn ‘Adī. Due ...

) is one of the oldest Religion. ** Mandeans **

Yarsan Yarsanism, Ahl-e Haqq or Kaka'i ( ku, یارسان, translit=Yarsan or ; fa, اهل حق, ar, كاكائي), is a syncretic religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran. The total number of followers of Yarsanism i ...

References

External links

Sectarianism in Syria (Survey Study)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ethnic groups in Syria *

Ethnicity, religion and national/ideological identities

Counting the ethnic or religious groups

Ethnoreligious groups

See also

References

External links