Sri Lankans in Lebanon

Ethnic group

Sri Lankans in Lebanon
Total population
7600 (2024)
Languages
Sri Lankan English, Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil, Lebanese Arabic, Lebanese French
Religion
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Sri Lankan people, Sri Lankan diaspora

Sri Lankans in Lebanon refer to people from Sri Lanka living in Lebanon. As of 2024, an estimated 7,600 Sri Lankan migrant workers.^[1] Sri Lankans generally go to the Middle East to find work, with a large domestic labour population in Lebanon.

A large influx of Sri Lankan women into Lebanon had begun in the early 1990s, serving primarily as domestic labour in private households. Like other countries the Sri Lankan government has actively encouraged the 'export' of domestic labour as it has become the largest single source of foreign revenue for the country. However recently most Sri Lankan domestic workers have fallen under the category of 'contract slavery', given the legal and employment conditions they face.^[2]

In 2006, there are approximately 80,000 to 90,000 of them.^[3]^[4]^[5]

In 2022, International Organization for Migration(IOM), conducted Migrant Presence Monitoring (MPM) between May and July 2022 and a total estimated of 3,172 Sir Lankan were identified in Lebanon.^[6]

References

↑ "IOM Facilitates Safe Return of 53 Sri Lankan Migrant Workers from Lebanon Amid Crisis". roasiapacific.iom.int. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
↑ Jureidini, Ray; Moukarbel, Nayla (2004). "Female Sri Lankan domestic workers in Lebanon: a case of 'contract slavery'?". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 30 (4): 581–607. doi:10.1080/13691830410001699478. S2CID 144353485.
↑ "80,000 Sri Lankans Stranded in Lebanon". Or does it explode?. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
↑ Dissanayake, Samanthi (2006-07-21). "Sri Lankan maids stranded by war". BBC News. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
↑ Peiris, Vilani. "Sri Lankan government leaves migrant workers stranded in Lebanon". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
↑ "SRI LANKAN NATIONALS' PRESENCE IN LEBANON - ROUND 2 MIGRANT PRESENCE MONITORING (MPM)". IOM UN Migration (PDF). 2022. Retrieved 8 Jan 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

Another 1000 Sri Lankans to be repatriated from Lebanon this week

v t e Sri Lankan diaspora
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See also	Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora

Demographics of Lebanon

By religion¹

Christianity	Catholics Armenian Catholics Chaldean Catholics Latin Catholics Maronite Catholics Melkite Catholics Syriac Catholics Assyrian Church of the East Greek Orthodox Oriental Orthodox Armenian Apostolics Coptic Orthodox Syriac Orthodox Protestants Baptist

Islam	Shiites Shiite Twelvers Alawite Shiites Ismaili Shiites Sunnites Druze²

Other	Jews Baháʼí Faith

By ethnicity
or nationality

Armenians
Assyrians
Bulgarians
Canadians
French
Greeks
Indians
Iranians
Iraqis
Italians
Kurds
Malays
Pakistanis
Palestinians
Poles
Romani/Dom
Russians
Sri Lankans
Syrians
Turks

¹ The Lebanese people has the most religious diversity of all peoples in the Middle East, comprising 18 recognized religious sects recognized by the Constitution of Lebanon.
² Under the terms of the Constitution of Lebanon, the Druze community is designated as a part of the Lebanese Muslim community.

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