Irreligion in Iran

Irreligion in Iran has a long historical background, non-religious citizens are officially unrecognized by the Iranian government. In official 2011 census, 265,899 persons did not state any religion (0.3% of total population).[1] However, according to a 2020 online survey by Gamaan found a much larger percentage of Iranians identifying as atheist (8.8%), and a large fraction (22.2%) identifying as not following an organized religion.[2][3][4]

Under Iranian law, apostasy from Shia faith 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.[5][6] 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.