Zoroastrians number perhaps 110,000–120,000 worldwide, down sharply, and the community's central controversy is whether to accept converts and the children of intermarriage. Most traditional Parsi authorities in India say no on the grounds that the faith is transmitted by descent; Iranian and North American communities have moved toward acceptance. The demographic mathematics are stark and known to everyone involved, which is what makes the argument so painful: it is a dispute about whether survival or continuity is the higher obligation.