What is Iran's religion? Also what's the percentages of them all within Iran?
Executive summary
Iran is overwhelmingly Muslim, with Twelver (IthnāʿAsharī) Shia Islam constitutionally the state religion and the vast majority of the population adhering to it; most mainstream sources put Shia at roughly 90–95% of Iranians and Sunnis at about 5–10% [1] USCIRF%20Annual%20Report.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[2] [3]. Estimates for non‑Muslim minorities vary by source but are consistently small — typically well under 1–2% collectively — with Christians, Baháʼís, Zoroastrians, Jews and other faiths represented in the tens to low hundreds of thousands according to differing counts [4] [5] [2].
1. The constitutional religion and the Shia majority
Iran’s constitution names Twelver Jaʿfari Shiʿism as the official state religion, and encyclopedic and academic sources describe the “vast majority” of Iranians as Twelver Shia, a demographic fact that shapes law and public life [1] [6]. Quantitatively, mainstream demographic summaries and U.S. government reporting place Shia adherents at roughly 90–95% of the population — a range reflected in USCIRF’s 2025 summary and in multiple demographic profiles [2] [3].
2. Sunni Muslims: a significant regional minority with contested numbers
Most sources agree Sunnis are the largest Muslim minority in Iran, concentrated among Kurds, Turkmen, Baluch, Larestani, and some Arab communities, and are usually estimated at about 5–10% of the national population; Wikipedia and other compilations commonly place Sunnis near 9% [7] [3]. Sunni activists and some local sources argue official records undercount them and predict higher growth, a claim noted in demographic discussions though not uniformly substantiated by independent census data [7].
3. Non‑Muslim minorities: small but diverse and disputed in size
Non‑Muslim religious groups together form a small slice of Iran’s population, but estimates vary: the Statistical Center of Iran’s 2016 census lists about 117,700 Christians while other databases (Boston University’s World Religion Database) estimate as many as ~579,000 Christians, and Christian community leaders also report differing figures — illustrating the measurement dispute [5]. Other figures commonly cited include Baháʼís around several hundred thousand (often reported near 300,000 but officially unrecognized), Zoroastrians in the tens of thousands (estimates ranging from ~25,000 to 64,000), Jews numbering in the low thousands (around 9,000 in some accounts), and small ancient communities like the Mandaeans estimated at a few thousand [4] [8] [5] [9].
4. Why the numbers differ: methodology, politics, and recognition
Discrepancies across sources stem from different methodologies, political incentives and recognition status: government censuses report lower counts for some minorities, international religion databases and NGOs use broader criteria or community reporting and often produce higher estimates, and persecuted or unrecognized groups — notably Baháʼís — are excluded from official protections and thus are recorded differently across datasets [5] [6] [7]. U.S. government reporting, academic databases and NGOs each present slightly different breakdowns, which is why ranges (e.g., Shia 90–95%, Sunni 5–10%, non‑Muslim <1–2%) are more accurate than single precise percentages [2] [3] [5].
5. The practical picture: dominance of Shia identity with plural enclaves
Statistically and politically, Twelver Shiʿism dominates Iranian public life and institutions, but the country still contains regional Sunni majorities and small, historically rooted non‑Muslim communities — Armenians and Assyrians among Christians, Zoroastrians in central provinces, Jews with a long history, and Baháʼís and Mandaeans facing marginalization — all of which contribute to a complex religious map that is not reducible to a single number [1] [4] [5] [9].