Demographics of Iran

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The statistics in this article come from the CIA World Factbook, 2006 edition.

Ethnolinguistic groups in Iran

Iran's population was estimated to be 68,688,433 in July 2006, with nearly one quarter of its people being 15 years of age or younger.^[1] Iran is also ethnically and linguistically diverse, with some cities, such as Tehran, bringing various ethnic groups together.

Approximately 70% of Iran's peoples speak Iranian languages.^[2] The major groups in this category include Persians, Kurds, Gilakis, Mazandaranis, Lurs, and Baluchis. Turkic speakers, such as the Azeri, Turkmen, and the Qashqai peoples, comprise a substantial minority. The remainder are primarily Semitics such as Arabs and Assyrians or other Indo-Europeans such as Armenians. There are also small communities of Brahui in southeastern Iran.

1 Population Density & Most populous cities
2 Religious affiliation
3 Miscellaneous statistics
4 See also
5 Notes

Population Density & Most populous cities

The following is a list of the five most populous cities in the country.

Population density by province in Iran

Rank	City (Province)	2005 population
1.	Tehran (Tehran Province)	8,601,473
2.	Mashad (Razavi Khorasan)	2,307,177
3.	Isfahan (Isfahan Province)	1,547,164
4.	Tabriz (East Azarbaijan)	1,424,641
5.	Shiraz (Fars Province)	1,279,140

See also: List of cities in Iran.

Religious affiliation

Most Iranians are Muslims; 89% belong to the Shi'a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 9% belong to the Sunni branch, which predominates in neighboring Muslim countries. Non-Muslim minorities include Zoroastrians, Jews, Bahá'ís, Mandeans, Christians and Yarsan.

Non-Muslim minorities have been shrinking in the past few decades. Only 11,000 to 40,000 Jews remain in Iran today, of a community that stood at about 100,000 before the Islamic Revolution. Zoroastrian, Bahá'í, and Christian communities are seeing similar contraction.

Roman Catholicism in Iran Today, there are about 8,000 Assyrian Christians in Iran, who belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church.

Miscellaneous statistics

Ethnic and religious distribution in Iran

Population: 68,688,433 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 26.1% (male 9,204,785; female 8,731,429)
15-64 years: 69% (male 24,133,919; female 23,245,255)
65 years and over: 4.9% (male 1,653,827; female 1,719,218) (2006 est.)

Median age:
total: 24.8 years
male: 24.6 years
female: 25 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.1% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 17 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 5.55 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.48 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.96 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 40.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.26 years
male: 68.86 years
female: 71.74 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Iranian(s) -- adjective: Iranian

Ethnic groups: Persians 51%, Azeris 24%, Gilaki-Mazandarani 8%-Kurds 7% Arabs 3%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, Lurs 2%, other 1%(based on CIA data)

Religions: Shi'a Muslim 89%, Sunni Muslim 9%, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Bahá'í 2%

Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic languages 26%, Kurdish 9%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, other 2%

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 79.4%
male: 85.6%
female: 73.0% (2003 est.)