What religious communities are represented in Beirut?
This might be more easily answered if the question was 'what religious communities aren't represented in Beirut?' With 18 different religious denominations being officially recognized in the country, Beirut holds the representation of almost all of them.
Although many areas in Beirut have several religious communities living side by side, the city over the years has come to be more segmented, with certain religions being linked to certain areas.
For example, East Beirut is known to be the 'Christian Area', while West Beirut is more predominantly the 'Muslim Area'. This is due to several factors that drove certain communities to settle en masse and therefore set the stage for the current demographic layout of the city: mixed in general, but with clear-cut predominance.
However, in recent years, with real estate prices on the rise, areas are slowly becoming slightly more mixed, with young homeowners choosing their areas of choice based on budget rather than religious affiliation. This by no means is a fast growing demographic, but it is one that will slowly but surely get Beirut back to its integrated past.
Beirut is home to Muslims (Sunni and Shiite), Christians (Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Roman Catholics, Syriacs, Methodists,
All this being said, you're just as likely to hear a call to prayer in the east as you are church bells in the west, since places of worship of all religions can be found in every part of the city.
