page_title: Copts
section_title: Diaspora
hierarchical_section_title: Copts / Demographics / Diaspora
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Bellaire
context_page_description: The Copts are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt, where they are the largest Christian denomination in the country. Copts are also the largest Christian denomination in Sudan and Libya. Historically, they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity.
  Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian population in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the largest religious minority in the region, accounting for roughly 5-20% of the Egyptian population, although the exact percentage is unknown. Copts in Sudan constitute the largest Christian community in Sudan, and Copts in Libya constitute the largest Christian community in Libya, accounting for an estimated 1% of their respective populations.
  Most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Church. The smaller Coptic Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church, in communion with the See of Rome; others belong to the Evangelical Church of Egypt.
context_section_description: Outside of the Coptic primary area of residence within parts of present-day Egypt (Copts in Egypt), Sudan (Copts in Sudan), and Libya (Copts in Libya), the largest Coptic diaspora population is located within the United States, Canada, and Australia. The numbers of the Censuses in the United States, Canada, and Australia are not fully correct since many Copts listed themselves in the 2011 Census mistakenly as either Egyptians, Sudanese, Libyans, Americans, Canadians or Australians and by this way reducing the Coptic population in the 2011 Census in the United States, Canada, and Australia respectively.
  Nevertheless, the Coptic American (US) population is estimated to number about 200,000 (estimates of Coptic organizations ranging as high as a million). According to published accounts and several Coptic/US sources (including the US-Coptic Association), the Coptic Orthodox Church has between 700,000 and one million members in the United States (c. 2005–2007). The Coptic Canadian population is estimated to number about 50,000 (estimates of Coptic organizations ranging as high as 200,000). The Coptic Australian population is estimated to number about 100,000 (estimates of Coptic organizations ranging as high as 100,000).
  Smaller communities are found in Kuwait, the United Kingdom,
  France (45,000), South Africa.
  Minor communities below 10,000 people are reported from Jordan (8,000 Copts), Lebanon (3,000 – 4,000 Copts), Germany (3,000 Copts), Austria (2,000 Copts), Switzerland (1,000 Copts), and elsewhere.
  It is noted that Copts also live in Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
caption: St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Bellaire, Texas (Greater Houston). There are about 1–2 million Egyptian born Copts living outside of Egypt, and are known as the Coptic diaspora.
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