The Lebanese are an ethnic group from the present-day country of Lebanon in the Levant region of the Middle East. While some Lebanese nationalists consider themselves the descendants of the Phoenicians and not Arabs, the Lebanese people share many cultural aspects with the Arabs, including their language of Arabic, Arab traditional clothing, and (in the case of 59.5% of the population) the religion Islam and its Druze sect. 40.5% of Lebanese are Christian, and many Lebanese Christians live overseas; Brazil may be home 7,000,000 people of Lebanese descent, compared to Lebanon proper's 4,130,000 people. Argentina has 1,500,000 Lebanese people; 700,000 live in Colombia, 504,000 in the United States, 400,000 in Mexico, 340,000 in Venezuela, 250,000 in Canada, 225,000 in France, 203,139 in Australia, 80,000 in the Dominican Republic, and tens of thousands more across the world. There is a significant Lebanese minority in West Africa, with 30,000 living in Senegal, 40,000 in Sierra Leone, and 4,000 in Liberia, while 20,000 live in South Africa.
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