Syria's ethnic and religious groups explained

One of the most popular chants in Syria at the moment and among Syrians of the diaspora translates as "One, one, one, the Syrian people are one." As people come to terms with the collapse of Bashar Assad's regime, there are hopes that peace and stability are coming to the divided country.

It is impossible to get accurate and current data on Syria's varied population. This is due to a war that lasted over a decade and that observers believe may have ended with the recent toppling of the long-time dictator Assad after an offensive by the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Those numbers there are differ wildly according to the source. Syria's Central Bureau of Statistics  said 29.2 million people lived in the country as of December 10, 2019. The World Factbook produced by the CIA, the US' foreign intelligence service, then estimates that by July 2021 around 20.4 million people were living in Syria. For its part, the World Bank put the population at around 23 million in 2023. Other estimates pin the number closer to 25 million.

While it is safe to assume that the true measure of Syria's overall population lies somewhere in between, the huge differences also highlight the impact of the devastating civil war that has left the country hugely fractured.

The United Nations (UN) estimates that the war has caused around 600,000 deaths. It says that 6 million Syrians fled the country and close to 7 million found themselves internally displaced.

Sunni, Shia, Alawites

Despite the lack of reliable demographic data, estimates on religious and ethnic minorities in Syria seem to be widely comparable.

Syria's population consists of some 70% Sunni Muslims who live all across the country.

They believe that the founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, did not explicitly declare a successor.

Shia Muslims, who make up around 3% of Syria's population, believe that Muhammad designated his cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib, as his successor and the first in a line of hereditary imams.  

A larger minority in Syria are Alawites, including deposed leader Bashar Assad, who make up around 10% of the population.

Many of this minority esoteric sect of Islam live in Syria's western coastal region, particularly in the cities of Latakia und Tartus.

Apart from different Muslim groups, Syria is also home to religious minorities such as Christians, whose denominations include Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Maronite, Syrian Catholic, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic.

There are also many ethnic minorities in Syria, including Druze, Palestinian, Iraqi, Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, Circassian, Mandean and Turkoman groups. Most of them live in and around Damascus.

Kurdish-ruled Autonomous Administration

The Kurdish-ruled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava, is home to Syria's largest minority, about 2.5 million Kurdish people. Some Kurds also live in and around Syria's capital Damascus.

A minority among the Kurds are the Yazidis, who mainly live in the Aleppo governorate.

Syria also hosts 12 refugee camps where 438,000 Palestinian refugees currently live, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

A sizable chunk of Syria's Sunni Muslims live in Syria's northeastern Idlib region, which in the past five years became the last opposition stronghold of the war-torn country. Run by HTS, it became the temporary home of some 4 million displaced Sunnis, Christians and Druze. 

They will be looking to return to their original villages and towns as HTS establishes its rule across the country. 

This article was updated on December 18, 2024, to better define the Shia Musilm and Alewite ethnic and religious groups.

Edited by: Anne Thomas