Persian-American
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 470,341 (2011 ACS) 500,000–1,000,000+ (estimates) 1,400,000-2,000,000+ (some internal estimates, 2012) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| California, New York, New Jersey,Texas, Nevada, Massachusetts, Florida, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Illinois | |
| Languages | |
| Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, and other languages of Iran. (see Languages of Iran). | |
| Religion | |
| Muslim: 31%, no religion: 19%, Baha’i: 7%, Jewish: 5%, Protestant: 5%, Roman Catholic: 2%, Zoroastrian: 2%, "Other": 15%, and "No response": 15%. |
Iranian Americans or Persian Americans, are Americans of Iranian ancestry or people possessing Iranian and American dual citizenship. Iranian Americans are among the highest educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in business, academia, the sciences, arts, and entertainment – but have traditionally shied away from participating in American politics and other civic activities.
Based on a 2012 announcement from "National Organization for Civil Registration", which is an organization of the Ministry of Interior of Iran, the United States has the highest number of Iranians outside the country.
Iranian-American is used interchangeably with Persian-American, partially due to the fact that Iran was known in the West as "Persia" until 1935 when the Iranian government formally required the use of "Iran", the name Iranians themselves used for their country for over a thousand years. Until then, "Iran" and "Persia" had been used interchangeably since classic times. There is a tendency among Iranian-Americans to categorize themselves as "Persian" rather than "Iranian", mainly to disassociate themselves from the Iranian government and the negativity associated with it, and also to distinguish themselves as being of Persian ethnicity, which is around 65% of Iran's population. Majority of Iranian-Americans are of Persian-speaking backgrounds, however there is also a significant number of non-Persian Iranians within the Iranian-American community, leading some scholars to believe that the label "Iranian" is more inclusive, since the label "Persian" excludes non-Persian minorities from Iran. The Collins English Dictionary uses a variety of similar and overlapping definitions for the terms "Persian" and "Iranian".
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