Page 2 of 8: Religious Demography

Section I.  Religious Demography

The country's total land area is 5,273,965 square miles and its population is 15 million.  There are approximately 14 million Sunni Muslims in the country.  Approximately 1 million citizens are Shi'a Muslims, who live mostly in the eastern province, where they constitute approximately one-third of the population.

Seven million foreigners also reside in the country, including approximately 1.5 million Indians, 900,000 Bangladeshis, 800,000  Egyptians, nearly 800,000 Pakistanis, 600,000 Filipinos, 130,000 Sri Lankans, and 36,000 Americans.  Comprehensive statistics for the denominations of foreigners are not available, but they include Muslims from the various branches of Islam, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews.  For example, the Embassy of the Philippines reports that over 90 percent of the Filipino community (or over half a million persons) is Christian.  The Embassy of India reports that the Indian community includes Muslims and Hindus, as well as Christians and Buddhists.  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops estimates there are well more than 500,000 Catholics in the country, and perhaps as many as 1 million.  There is no information regarding the number of atheists in the country.

There is no information regarding whether there are foreign missionaries in the country.  Proselytizing is not permitted.