In Muslim-Christian marriages, a spouse might choose to convert to another religion mostly for reasons of inheritance. Some Muslim faiths, for instance, deprive the wife of her right to inherit her husband, which might push her to adopt a new faith to safeguard her right to heritage.

Despite the importance of inter-religious marriages in building a new generation far from sectarianism, there has not been any public interest or research as to the number of mixed marriages by sect and region. As usual, the exact number remains subject to estimations, which put it at around 500 000 marriages between Muslims of different sects, between Christians of different sects, or marriages between Muslims and Christians.

Information International has conducted in-depth research into this matter based on the 2011 voter lists and has concluded that the registered mixed marriages amount to 173 883 in Lebanon. Although the few shortcomings that accompanied the research failed to strip its scientific value, it is imperative to point them out:

• The study excluded the marriages of females under 21 years of age
• The study excluded the marriages where the relevant female spouse passed away
• The study excluded the few marriages where the sect of the wife was not mentioned

Our research will stretch over 7 parts, each of them dedicated to cover mixed marriages in one of the 6 Lebanese Mohafazas while the 7th will include all Lebanon and touch on the final findings and conclusions.

According to the following Table 1, there were 57 295 mixed marriages in the Mount Lebanon Mohafaza.

The highest mixed marriage rates were registered in the Qada’a of Matn and the lowest in Jbeil.

By sect, 3773 marriages occurred between two different Muslim sects, 47 417 between two different Christian sects and 2589 between Muslims and Christians.

The distribution of inter-religious marriages by Qada’a was as follows:

• Matn: 19 686 marriages
• Chouf: 10 068
• Baabda: 8625
• Kessrouan: 7479
• Aley: 7209
• Jbeil: 4204

These marriages were distributed by sect as follows:

• Matn: 267 unions between people of two different Muslim sects, 17 753 between people of two different Christian sects and 900 between Muslims and Christians (Table 2)
• Chouf: 1858 unions between people of two different Muslim sects, 6874 between people of two different Christian sects and 610 between Muslims and Christians (Table 3)
• Baabda: 721 unions between people of two different Muslim sects, 7054 between people of two different Christian sects and 397 between Muslims and Christians (Table 4)
• Kessrouan: 48 unions between people of two different Muslim sects, 6656 between people of two different Christian sects and 223 between Muslims and Christians (Table 5)
• Aley: 396 unions between people of two different Muslim sects, 5874 between people of two different Christian sects and 484 between Muslims and Christians (Table 6)
• Jbeil: 486 unions between people of two different Muslim sects, 3037 between people of two different Christian sects and 241 between Muslims and Christians (Table 7)

Source: Lebanon’s Civil Registration Records

Source: Lebanon’s Civil Registration Records

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Mixed marriages registered in Chouf												Table 3
Sect of the husband	Maronite	Greek Orthodox	Greek Catholic	Armenian Orthodox	Armenian Catholic	Evangelical	Syrian Orthodox	Syrian Catholic	Latin	Christian diversity	Sunni	Shia’a	Druze	Total
Sect of the wife
Maronite		77	1752	3	3	72	1	5	8	1	36	4	72	2034
Greek Orthodox	1489		438	2	1	37	2	1	1	1	46	3	38	2059
Greek Catholic	1970	39		7	4	26	1		3		57	2	49	2158
Armenian Orthodox	110	5	33		4	3					6	1