Irreligion in Iran has a long historical background, but is difficult to measure, as those who profess atheism are at risk of arbitrary detention, torture, and the death penalty.[1] Non-religious citizens are officially unrecognized by the Iranian government. In the official 2011 census, 265,899 persons did not state any religion (0.3% of total population).[2] Between 2017 and 2022, the World Values Survey found that 1.3% of Iranians identified as atheists, and a further 14.3% as not religious. In the 1999-2004 cycle, the WVS had found 1% identified as atheist and 3% as not religious.[3]
However, a 2020 social media-based survey by Gamaan found a much larger percentage of Iranians identifying as atheist (8.8%), and a larger fraction (22.2%) identifying as not following any religion.[4][5] The survey used self-selecting participants, reached through social media and chain referrals.[6] For comparison, the same survey put the number of Muslims in Iran at 40.4%, and Zoroastrians at 7.7%.[4] The Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America put the number of Zoroastrians in Iran at up to 25,271 in 2012,[7] equivalent to 0.03% of an 87.6 million population.[8]
Under Iranian law, apostasy from Islam is punishable by death. Non-religious Iranians are officially unrecognized by the government, and one must declare oneself as a member of one of the four recognized faiths in order to avail oneself of many of the rights of citizenship.[9][10]
Citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran are officially divided into four categories: Muslims, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians. This official division ignores other religious minorities in Iran, notably the agnostics, atheists and Bahá'ís.
^"2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Iran". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
^SCI (2011). Selected Findings of National Population and Housing Census Archived 2013-05-31 at the Wayback Machine. Tehran: Statistical Centre of Iran, p. 26, ISBN 978-964-365-848-9.
^"WVS Database". World Values Survey. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
^ ab"Iranians' Attitudes Toward Religion: A 2020 Survey Report". Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN). Retrieved 2024-03-24.
^Maleki, Ammar; Arab, Pooyan Tamimi (10 September 2020). "Iran's secular shift: new survey reveals huge changes in religious beliefs". The Conversation. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
^Maleki, Ammar; Arab, Pooyan Tamimi (August 2020). "Iranian's attitudes toward religion - A 2020 survey report" (PDF). GAMAAN.
^Rivetna, Roshan. "The Zarathushti World, a 2012 Demographic Picture" (PDF). Fezana.org.
^"Iran", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 2024-03-13, retrieved 2024-03-24
^Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans. Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA)/Zogby, December 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
^"Disparaging Islam and the Iranian-American Identity: To Snuggle or to Struggle". payvand.com. 21 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2022-03-26.
and 29 Related for: Irreligion in Iran information
IrreligioninIran has a long historical background, but is difficult to measure, as those who profess atheism are at risk of arbitrary detention, torture...
Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious beliefs or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and...
characterized as an endorsement of regime change. IrreligioninIran Milani, Abbas (11 April 2014). "Opinion | Are Iran and Israel Trading Places?". The New York...
Irreligionin Estonia pertains to atheism, agnosticism, and secularism of the people and institutions of Estonia. Irreligion is prominent in Estonia, where...
Irreligionin Azerbaijan is open to interpretation according to differing censuses and polls. Although Shia Islam is the predominant faith in Azerbaijan...
of Iran (approximately 80%) consists of Iranic peoples. The largest groups in this category include Persians (who form the majority of the Iranian population)...
Irreligion, which may include deism, agnosticism, ignosticism, anti-religion, atheism, skepticism, ietsism, spiritual but not religious, freethought, anti-theism...
Iran's ethnic diversity means that the languages of Iran come from a number of linguistic origins, although the primary language spoken and used is Persian...
Irreligion is present among a minority of mainly young people in Pakistan. Atheists in Pakistan face discrimination, persecution, and prejudice in society...
2020, 20% of Singaporeans have no religious affiliation. The rate of irreligion is different among ethnic groups of Singapore: about 26% of Chinese residents...
Throughout history, women inIran have played numerous roles, and contributed in many ways, to Iranian society. Historically, tradition maintained that...
The mass media inIran is both privately and publicly owned but all channels are subject to censorship. In 2016, Iran had 178 newspapers, 83 magazines...
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (/ˈsæfəvɪd, ˈsɑː-/), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and long-standing Iranian empires after...
religions and various levels of irreligion.[citation needed] Iranian languages were and, to a lesser extent, still are spoken in a wide area comprising regions...
Irreligionin the Middle East is the lack of religion in the Middle East. Though atheists in the Middle East are rarely public about their lack of belief...
Others include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, the West African state of Mauritania, and the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. "Most...
Swedish Iranians or Swedish Persians consist of people of Iranian nationality who have settled in Sweden, as well as Swedish residents and citizens of...
Iranian cuisine is the culinary traditions of Iran. Due to the historically common usage of the term "Persia" to refer to Iranin the Western world, it...
adoption of a religion or irreligion under duress. Someone who has been forced to convert to a different religion or irreligion may continue, covertly,...
Dances inIran or Iranian dances (Persian:رقص ایرانی) are dance styles indigenous to Iran. Genres of dance inIran vary depending on the area, culture...
International (HI), Afghanistan is one of the seven countries in the world (the other six being Iran, the Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan)...
accepting Islam as a religion or faith and rejecting any other religion or irreligion. Converting to Islam requires one to declare the shahādah, the Muslim...
The cinema of Iran (Persian: سینمای ایران), or of Persia, refers to the film industry inIran. In particular, Iranian art films have garnered international...
and entirely altering its natural path. The modern art movement inIran had its genesis in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This was the period after the...
The culture of Iran (Persian: فرهنگ ایران) or culture of Persia is among the most influential in the world. Iran (Persia) is widely considered to be one...
Iranian architecture or Persian architecture (Persian: معمارى ایرانی, Me'māri e Irāni) is the architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia,...
Iranian folklore encompasses the folk traditions that have evolved in Greater Iran. Storytelling has an important presence inIranian culture. In classical...
The Iranian diaspora refers to Iranian citizens or people of Iranian descent living outside Iran. This includes the varying ethnicities of the Iranian people...
Global Information