The Current Situation

According to the census data collected by the Ottoman Empire, the Christian population in 1914 was 40% of the modern-day area consisting of Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey; today it is no more than 5%.[2] The demographics changed largely due to the chronic emigration of Christians and, since the 1970s, their lower birth rates and persecution by Israel and Muslim extremists in the region.