Are Shiaas Actually A Majority In The Region?

Interesting (fuzzy?) maths by Hossein Askari:

The population of the Muslim countries east of Egypt through the Persian Gulf: Lebanon (40% Shia), Syria (15%), Jordan (2%), Yemen (45%), Saudi Arabia (10%), Iraq (63%), Kuwait (30%), Iran (93%), Oman (2%), UAE (15%), Qatar (5%) and Bahrain (70%) — totals about 190 million. Although there are different sects within Shia Islam, the indisputable number of Shia in Iran and Iraq total about 86 million, or over 45% of the region’s total population; conservative estimates for the Shia in the remaining countries bring the total number of Shia to 106 million or 56% of the region’s population. In short, the Shia are the majority in the area that might be considered the “heart” of the Middle East, including all the countries of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, and the area that holds the region’s vast oil and natural gas reserves.

The fact that we are now getting into a numbers game shows how low the conversation has stooped. This is seriously dangerous territory in a place that has been fighting for ages on whether to call the Persian Gulf by its original name or by the name the Arabs like more: “The Arabian Gulf”.