Ethnic Diversity In Iran

In addition to the ethnic diversity in the country, the Iranian population is also divided into different religions and sects, such as Sunni, Shite, Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. Although the majority of the Iranian population consists of Shiites, a disagreement exists over their actual proportional strength. Shiites apparently make the majority of the Iranian population there is disagreement over their actual proportional strength. The official statistics claim that Shiites constitute 90 percent of the population. This figure is taken into account in most Most of the related studies on Iran consider this figure. However, this figure is contested by non-Shiite groups, particularly by the Sunnites who regard themselves as the second majority group rather than a ‘religious minority’. They criticize the Shiite religious authorities with high political powers for their unwillingness to provide accurate information about the denominational map of Iran. As one of such critics Dr. Noorzi makes the following points:

If you just put together the population of some Sunni-dominated cities, such as Sanandaj, Zahedan, Iranshahr, Chabahar, Mahabad, Marivan, Gumbad and the like, it exceeds 10 percent of the Iran’s population. To this you need to add the population of Sunnite communities who live in Shiite -dominated cities. In every Iranian city you will find a significantly large Sunni community, even in Qom, which is the hub of Shi’ism and of the Shiite clergy. You will find a population of over million Sunnites only in Tehran. The Iranian leaders are ignoring all these