Minority Religions
According to Library of Congress, Pew Research Center, Oxford University, the CIA Factbook and other experts, Shi'a Islam in Pakistan make up 15-25% while the remaining 70-85% is Sunni Islam.
Although Shias are a second largest sect in the country, Pakistan holds the second largest Shia community after Iran in terms of numbers. The total Shia population in Pakistan is approximately 15 million to as high as 26 million according to Vali Nasr. While many independent sources claim Shia figures in Pakistan as high as 50 million in Pakistan. Globally, Shia Islam is represented by 10-20% of the total Muslims, while the remaining 80%-90% practice Sunni Islam.
An estimated 2.3% of the population are Ahmadis, who are officially considered non-Muslims by virtue of a 1974 constitutional amendment.
Non-Muslim religions include Hinduism and Christianity each with 2,800,000 (1.6%) adherents as of 2005. The Bahá'í Faith, has a following of 30,000, then Sikhism, Buddhism and Parsis, each claiming 20,000 adherents, and a very small community of Jains.
Read more about this topic: Sectarian Violence In Pakistan
Famous quotes containing the words minority and/or religions:
“The hard truth is that what may be acceptable in elite culture may not be acceptable in mass culture, that tastes which pose only innocent ethical issues as the property of a minority become corrupting when they become more established. Taste is context, and the context has changed.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“It is a quite remarkable fact that the great religions of the most civilized peoples are more deeply fraught with sadness than the simpler beliefs of earlier societies. This certainly does not mean that the current of pessimism is eventually to submerge the other, but it proves that it does not lose ground and that it does not seem destined to disappear.”
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