The state religion of Bahrain is Islam and most Bahraini citizens are Muslim. The majority of Bahraini Muslims are Shiites. It is one of three countries in the Middle East in which Shiites are the majority, the other two being Iraq and Iran. Public surveys are rare in Bahrain, but the US department of state's report on religious freedom in Bahrain estimates that Shia constitute 55–60% of Bahrain's citizen population. Although the majority of the country's citizens are Shia, the royal family and most Bahrani elites are Sunni. The country's two Muslim communities are united on some issues, but disagree sharply on others. Shia have often complained of being politically repressed and economically marginalized in Bahrain; as a result, most of the protestors in the Bahraini uprising of 2011 were Shia.