Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Because of a “liberal financial environment,” training availability, and significant progress in the law, Lebanon is poised for more diversity in commercial alternative dispute resolution use.

First, the basics: Lebanon, a parliamentary democratic republic, is a regional and international hub for trade and business in the Middle East. It is about 10,500 square kilometers and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Syria to the east and north, and by Israel to the south. 

It has a population of slightly more than 4 million according to a July 2009, estimate, in the CIA World Factbook (available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook). No official census has been taken since 1932, but it is estimated that about 40 percent are Christians—mostly Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Melkite Greek Catholics, and Chaldean Catholic—35 percent are Shia Muslims, 21 percent are Sunni Muslims, and 5 percent are Druze