The President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, estimated that the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has exhausted the Land of the Cedars, also recalling that it “hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees on its soil in relation to its population. and its small area “.
The head of state was speaking to the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon, Ayaki Ito.
Lebanon in 2nd place among the countries which receive the most refugees in proportion to the local population, (High Commissioner in charge of refugees entitled Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019)
According to the report, Lebanon thus hosted one Syrian refugee for every 7 inhabitants at the end of 2019. Only Aruba with 1 refugee for 6 inhabitants is in front of the Land of the Cedars.
According to the High Commissioner for Refugees, Lebanon had 916,156 refugees on its soil at the end of 2019, against 949,666 a year earlier. 910,600 refugees are said to be of Syrian origin.
On a more global level, refugees from Syria are said to be the most numerous, with 6.6 million people.
Internal refugees in Syria are also believed to number 6.15 million people
Read the report
rapport-UNHCR-Liban384,000 Syrian refugees have deprived 270,000 Lebanese nationals of their jobs, estimated a UNHCR report published in 2018. This more particularly concerned under-qualified jobs, particularly in the service sector, despite the current regulations which restrict access to them while the Land of the Cedars was beginning to sink into the economic crisis that has affected it ever since.
Lebanese infrastructure is also severely impacted by such demographic pressure. Thus, many rivers are polluted.
For example, the previous former Minister of Energy and Hydraulic Resources, César Abi Khalil, indicated in 2018 that the Lebanese population would be deprived of 3 hours of electricity daily because of the consumption induced by this presence.
