USCCB - (SDWP) - Statistic on Christians in the Middle East

Statistic on Christians in the Middle East

Background on Christians in the Middle East

The Eastern Christian Churches – A Brief Survey (7th ed.)

These charts paint a picture of how the different Eastern Catholic Churches in the Middle East are adapting to current political and economic pressures. Many Catholics remain in the region, but significant numbers emigrated around the world.

Total Catholics in the Middle East (in percentages) (in numbers)
Catholics Native to the Middle East (in percentages) (in numbers)
Distribution of Eastern Catholic Churches
Distribution of Maronite Catholics 2010
Distribution of Melkite Greek Catholics 2010
Distribution of Armenian Catholics 2010
Distribution of Chaldean Catholic 2010
Distribution of Coptic Catholic 2010
Distribution of Syrian Catholics 2010

The first set of charts gives the size of each church (in percentages and numbers) within the total population of Catholics in the region; the second focuses on Catholics native to the Middle East, excluding the immigrant Latin Rite Catholics.

All Statistics come from the 2010 Annuario Pontificio

The table shows the number and percentage of each church’s members who are in the Middle East.

Distribution of Eastern Catholics
Eastern Catholic Churches	Total Number Worldwide	Number in Middle East	Percentage in the Middle East
Maronite	3,290,539	1,661,803	50.50
Melkite	1,614,604	755,200	46.77
Chaldean	490,371	310,235	63.27
Coptic	163,630	163,630	100.00
Syrian	158,818	140,018	88.16
Armenian	539,459	58,350	10.82

Charts for each of the Eastern Catholic Churches show where their members are located. There is no chart for the Latin Rite since it is spread worldwide.