Nabatieh

Nabatieh (Arabic: النبطية‎, Nabaṭīya), or Nabatîyé, is the principal town of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon. The population is very debatable since no census has been taken in Lebanon since the 1930s so estimates range from as low as only 15,000 residents to as high as 120,000 inhabitants. A 2006 population estimate by the now closed German population site called World Gazetteer put the population at 100 541 and would be the fifth largest city behind Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli, and Beirut in Lebanon according to those 2006 population estimates of Lebanese cities, but after an update in either 2007 or 2008 and calculations for the following years the 2013 population estimate turned out to be much lower at 36 593 and making the city the 11th largest in Lebanon behind Tyre, Jubail, Alayh, Kafr 'Aşş, Zahlé, Sidon, Baalbek, Jounieh, Tripoli and Beirut according those 2013 estimates. It is the main city in the Jabal Amel area and the chief center for both the mohafazat, or governorate, and the kaza, or canton both also called Nabatieh. Nabatieh is an important town both economically and culturally.