Iraq is a Muslim-majority country, with a mixed Shia and Sunnis population. Most sources estimate that around 65% of the population in Iraq are Shia (a mix of Arab, Kurd and Turkoman), and around 35% of the population being Sunni (a mix of Arab, Kurd and Turkoman). However, the question of religious demographics is controversial and some Iraqis, who follow Sunni Islam dispute these figures, including an ex-Iraqi ambassador, referring to American sources. Iraq contains the sacred Shia cities of Najaf and Karbala, in addition to many other Sunni and Shia shrines.
Religious composition includes:
• Islam, 95%; Christianity or other, 5%.
Three estimates of the Muslim proportions of the population are:
• Shia up to 65%, Sunni about 35% (source: Encyclopædia Britannica).
• Shia 60%–65%, Sunni 32%–37% (source: CIA World Fact Book).
• Shia 65%, Sunni 35% (source: World Christian Encyclopedia)
Christians have inhabited what is modern day Iraq for about 2,000 years. Assyrians (also called Syriacs and Chaldeans) most of whom are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East account for most of Iraq's Christian population, along with Armenians. Estimates for the numbers of Christians suggest a decline from 8–10% in the mid-20th century to 5% at the turn of the century, to around 4% in 2008. About 600,000 Iraqi Christians have fled to Syria, Jordan or other countries or relocated to Iraqi Kurdistan which is also the traditional homeland of the Assyrian people. There are also small populations of Mandaeans, Shabaks, Yarsan and Yezidis. The Iraqi Jewish community, numbering around 150,000 in 1941, has almost entirely left the country.
In November 2006, the UNHCR estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, who are mostly Sunni Muslims and Christians
