In 2020, around 98.5 percent of the Iranian population identified as Muslim. Around 81 percent identified as Shia Muslims in the same year, while a much smaller share followed the Sunni Muslim religion. In Iran, most Sunni Muslims belong to ethnic minority groups.

Iran’s demographics
The total population in Iran has grown steadily and is expected to surpass 90 million in 2028. The vast majority of the population in the country was between 15 and 64 years of age. At the same time, the share of people aged above 64 increased in recent years and constituted over seven percent of the total population.

Muslim population worldwide

In Europe, it was estimated that the Muslim population could triple by the middle of the century. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia had the largest share of Muslims as a proportion of its population. On the African continent, the highest number of Muslims was estimated in Nigeria, with close to a hundred million Islam followers. In the United States, less than one percent of the population identified as Muslims.

This statistic illustrates the distribution of Sunni and Shia amongst Muslim population in Iran and Saudi Arabia as of 2009. As of 2009, around 73 million Iranian Muslims belonged to the Shia faith, whereas only 4.8 million people in Saudi Arabia followed Shia Islam.

Iran, République islamique d’: Sunni Muslims as percent of the total population: Pour cet indicateur, The Cline Center for Democracy fournit des données pour la Iran, République islamique d’ de 1960 à 2013. La valeur moyenne pour Iran, République islamique d’ pendant cette période était de 6.1 pour cent avec un minimum de 4 pour cent en 1960 et un maximum de 9 pour cent en 2013.