Many people mistakenly think that Muslims are divided into two halves: Sunnis and Shi'it. In reality Shia are between 7.5% to 11%. All the rest (93.5%) are Sunnis (ignoring the fact the Shi'ism is a totally different religion than Islam). The word Shia includes all kinds of Shi'it Sects such as (Twelvers Imami Rafidi Shia, Isma'ili Shia, Alawi (Nusairi) Shia, Druze Shia, Zaidi Shia).

The first statistic was all taken from the British Encyclopedia for the year 1997. However, we feel that it has some incorrect numbers for some countries such as Iran. Their number is compared to the total number of Muslims which is 1,482,596,925

Country Name Total Population Percentage of Shia Number of Shia Sect
Afghanistan 22,664,136 15% 3,399,620 Imami
Azerbaijan 7,676,953 75% 5,757,715 Imami
Bahrain 590,042 61.3% 361,696 Imami
India 952,107,694 3% 28,563,231 Isma'ili, Imami
Iran 66,094,264 93.4% 61,732,043 Imami
Iraq 21,422,292 62.5% 13,388,933 Imami
Kuwait 1,950,047 30% 585,014 Imami
Lebanon 3,776,317 41% 1,548,290 Imami, Druze
Oman 2,186,548 2% 43,731 Imami
Pakistan 129,275,660 20% 25,855,132 Imami
Qatar 547,761 5% 27,388 Imami
Saudi Arabia 19,409,058 3.3% 640,499 Imami
Syria 15,608,648 15.3% 2,388,123 Nusairi, Druze
Turkey 62,484,478 20% 12,496,896 Nusairi
United Arab Emirates 3,057,337 16% 489,174 Imami
Yemen 13,483,178 46.9% 6,323,610 Zaidi
         
Total   11.0% 163,601,094  

This statistic was all taken from many independent sources for the year 1999. It is more accurate than the previous one. It is important to remember that Shia have a high birth rate since their religion allows adultery (Mut'a). The percentage of Shia this time is relative to the percentage of Muslims.

Country Name Total Population Percentage of Muslims Number of Muslims Percentage of Shia to Muslims Number of Shia
Afghanistan 22,664,136 100 22,664,136 15 3,399,620
Azerbaijan 7,676,953 93.4 7,170,274 80 5,736,219
Bahrain 590,042 100 590,042 65 383,527
India 952,107,694 14 133,295,077 10 - 2 13,329,507
Iran 66,094,264 99 65,433,321 70 45,803,324
Iraq 21,422,292 97 20,779,623 65 - 30 13,506,755
Kuwait 1,950,047 89 1,735,542 30 520,662
Lebanon 3,776,317 70 2,643,422 65 1,718,224
Oman 2,186,548 100 382,000 2 7,640
Pakistan 129,275,660 97 125,397,390 15 - 2 18,809,608
Qatar 547,761 100 547,761 15 82,164
Saudi Arabia 19,409,058 100 19,409,058 5 970,452
Syria 15,608,648 90 14,047,783 15 - 9 2,107,167
Turkey 62,484,478 99.8 62,359,509 6 3,741,570
United Arab Emirates 3,057,337 96 2,935,044 15 440,256
Yemen 13,483,178 99 13,348,346 15 2,002,251
           

Total

      7.58% 112,558,954