Demographics of Iran

Population

According to the 2016 population census the population of Iran was 79.9 million, a fourfold increase since 1956. Between 1976 and 1986, an average annual population growth of almost 4% was reached, but due to decreasing fertility levels the growth decreased to 1.2% between 2011 and 2016.

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2020) (Data refer to the Iranian Year which begins on 21 March and ends on 20 March of the following year.):

Table 9 – Population and Average Annual Growth by Provinces: 2006 and 2011

1 The population of the provinces of Alborz and Tehran for 2006 and their average annual growth have been calculated based on the data of 2011.

Unofficial Translation 17

Table 10 – Population Percentages by Province: 2006 and 2011 (Percentage)

1 The population of the provinces of Alborz and Tehran for 2006 and their average annual growth have been calculated based on the data of 2011.

Urban population

In addition to its international migration pattern, Iran also exhibits one of the steepest urban growth rates in the world according to the UN humanitarian information unit. According to 2015 population estimates, approximately 73.4 per cent of Iran's population lives in urban areas, up from 27 per cent in 1950.

The following is a list of the eight most populous cities in the country:

Vital statistics

UN estimates

(2022 estimates).

;Notes 1 per 1000 2 TFR = number of children per woman 3 per 1000 births

Registered births and deaths

Note that registrations may be by year of registration and not by year of occurrence. This was especially the case in the beginning of the 1980s when there were many late registrations. This explains the high number of births during 1980-1986. Before 1980, the registrations were incomplete.

Current vital statistics

Total fertility rate

In 1960, Iran's fertility rate was 7.3 children per woman. In 2021, the rate had fallen to 1.7 children per woman. According to a study through the Australian National University, there are both micro and macro factors affecting the fertility rate in Iran, including education, economics, and culture. Micro-factors can include family income levels and individual choices, while macro-factors can include the country's economy, education, and shifting cultural values. The cross-sectional cohort study examined four provinces in Iran (Gilan, Sistan & Baluchistan, West Azerbaijan, and Yazd) and found that trends show that women in all four provinces are choosing to have fewer children compared to the women born in the earlier cohorts. The majority of women agreed with statements such as "having many children is an obstacle for the parents' interests" and "having many children creates financial pressure for the family" (among others). Other sources also suggest that delayed marriage and a tendency to limit fertility are factors affecting the decline of TFR. A decline in TFR can lead to population decrease, and an ageing population, which can negatively impact the country's economy. In response, Iranian policymakers have attempted to limit these factors by restricting access to contraceptives and surgeries that reduce fertility.

Life expectancy

Sex ratio : at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female : 0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female : 15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female : 25-54 years: 1.04 male(s)/female : 55-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female : 65 years and over: 0.87 male(s)/female : total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

Life expectancy at birth : total population: 75.06 years : male: 73.71 years : female: 76.48 years (2021 est.)

Ethnic groups

Iran is a mosaic of diverse ethnic groups, contrary to popular belief that all Iranians are "just Persian". According to a 1939 survey and Anthropological study of the people of Iran, these were the ethnic groups that resided in the following areas of Iran:

Genetics

Haplogroups

Y-chromosome DNA

Y-Chromosome DNA Y-DNA represents the male lineage, the Iranian Y-chromosome pool is as follows where haplogroups, R1 (25%), J2 (23%) G (14%), J1 (8%) E1b1b (5%), L (4%), Q (4%), comprise more than 85% of the total chromosomes.

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) represents the female lineage. West Eurasian mtDNA makes up over 90% of the Iranian population on average. (2013).

Among them, U3b3 lineages appear to be restricted to populations of Iran and the Caucasus, while the sub-cluster U3b1a is common in the whole Near East region.

In Iran outliers in the Y-chromosomes and Mitochondrial DNA gene pool are consisted of the north Iranian ethnicities, such as the Gilaks and Mazandarani's, whose genetic build up including chromosomal DNA are nearly identical to the major South Caucasian ethnicities, namely the Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijani's. Other outliers are made by the Baloch people, representing a mere 1–2% of the total Iranian population, who have more patrilinial and mitochondrial DNA lines leaning towards northwest South Asian ethnic groups.

Levels of genetic variation in Iranian populations are comparable to the other groups from the Caucasus, Anatolia and Europe.

Autosomal DNA

A large-scale genetic analyses on various ethnic groups of Iran, published in 2019, found that genetically speaking different Iranian ethnic groups, such as Persians, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Lurs, Mazanderanis, Gilaks and Arabs, cluster tightly together, forming a single cluster known as the "CIC" (Central Iranian cluster). Compared with worldwide populations, Iranians (CIC) cluster in the center of the wider West Eurasian cluster, close to Europeans, Middle Easterners, and South-Central Asians. Iranian Arabs and Turkic-speaking Azeris genetically overlap with Iranian-speaking peoples such as Persians. The genetic substructure of Iranians was found to be low, compared with other "1000G" populations. Iranians display their highest genetic affinity with other Southwest and West Asian populations, followed by Europeans and Central Asian groups. Certain South Asians (specifically the Parsi minority) showed the highest affinity with Iranians, inline with their ethnic history. Overall, the study results suggest that the genetic makeup of the Iranian gene pool formed already about 5,000 years ago and shows high continuity since then, suggesting that they were largely unaffected by migration events from outside groups. On a global scale, Iranians display their highest affinity with other "West Eurasian" populations (such as Europeans or South Asians, but also Latin Americans), while Sub-Saharan Africans and East Asians showed large degrees of differentiation with Iranians.

Languages and ethnic groups

Main article: Iranian peoples, Turkic people, Languages of Iran, Ethnicities in Iran

The largest linguistic group comprises speakers of Iranian languages, like modern Persian, Kurdish, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Luri, Talysh, and Balochi. Speakers of Turkic languages, most notably Azerbaijani Turkish spoken by Azerbaijanis, which is by far the second-most spoken language in the country, but also the Turkmen, and the Qashqai peoples, comprise a substantial minority. The remainder are primarily speakers of Semitic languages such as Arabic and Assyrian. A small number of Mandaeans in Khuzestan speak Mandaic. There are small groups using other Indo-European languages such as Armenian and Russian; also, Georgian (a member of the Kartvelian language family) is spoken in a large pocket only by those Iranian Georgians that live in Fereydan, Fereydunshahr. Most of those Georgians who live in the north Iranian provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, Isfahan, Tehran province and the rest of Iran no longer speak the language. The Circassians in Iran, a very large minority in the past and speakers of the Circassian language, have been strongly assimilated and absorbed within the population in the past few centuries. However, significant pockets do exist spread over the country, and they are the second-largest Caucasus-derived group in the nation after the Georgians.

Jews have had a continuous presence in Iran since the time of Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire. In 1948, there were approximately 140,000–150,000 Jews living in Iran. According to the Tehran Jewish Committee, the Jewish population of Iran was (more recently) estimated at 25,000 to 35,000, of which approximately 15,000 are in Tehran with the rest residing in Hamadan, Shiraz, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Yazd, Kerman, Rafsanjan, Borujerd, Sanandaj, Tabriz, and Urmia. However, the official 2011 state census recorded only 8,756 Jews in Iran. File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (1982-1989).png File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (1990-1993).png File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (1994-2011).png File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (2012-2014).png The CIA World Factbook (which is based on 2013 statistics) gives the following numbers for the languages spoken in Iran today: Persian, Luri, Gilaki and Mazandarani 66%; Turkish and other Turkic languages 18%; Kurdish 10%; Arabic 2%; Balochi 2%; others 2% (Armenian, Georgian, Circassian, Assyrian, etc.).

According to anthropologist Brian Spooner, around half of Iran's population uses a language other than Persian at home and in informal public situations.

Other sources, such as the Library of Congress, and the Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden) give Iran's ethnic groups as following: Persians 65%, Azerbaijani Turks 16%, Kurds 7%, Lurs 6%, Arabs 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmens 1%, Turkic tribal groups (e.g. Qashqai) 1%, and non-Persian, non-Turkic groups (e.g. Armenians, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians) less than 1%. For sources prior to and after 2000, see Languages and ethnicities in Iran.

Religious affiliations

Main article: Religion in Iran, Islam in Iran, Christianity in Iran, Irreligion in Iran

About 99% of the Iranians are Muslims; 90% belong to the Shi'a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 9% belong to the Sunni branch, which predominates in neighbouring Muslim countries. Less than 1% non-Muslim minorities include Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews, Baháʼís, Mandaeans, and Yarsan. By far the largest group of Christians in Iran are Armenians under the Armenian Apostolic Church which has 41,385 adherents as of 2016 census. There are hundreds of Christian churches in Iran. The Baháʼí Faith, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority with a population around 300,000, is not officially recognised (and therefore not included in the census results), and has been persecuted since its inception in Iran. Since the 1979 revolution the persecution of Baháʼís has increased with executions, the denial of civil rights and liberties, and the denial of access to higher education and employment. Unofficial estimates for the Assyrian Christian population range between 20,000, and 70,000. The number of Iranian Mandaeans is a matter of dispute. In 2009, there were an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Mandaeans in Iran, according to the Associated Press. Whereas Alarabiya has put the number of Iranian Mandaeans as high as 60,000 in 2011.

Migration

Recent immigration

Immigration Most of the large Circassian migrational waves towards mainland Iran stem from the Safavid and Qajar era; however, a certain amount also stem from the relatively recent arrivals that migrated as the Circassians were displaced from the Caucasus in the 19th century. A Black African population exists due to historical slavery. A substantial number of Russians arrived in the early 20th century as refugees from the Russian Revolution, but their number has dwindled following the Iran crisis of 1946 and the Iranian Revolution. In the 20th to 21st centuries, there has been limited immigration to Iran from Turkey, Iraq (especially huge numbers during the 1970s known as Moaveds), Afghanistan (mostly arriving as refugees in 1978), Lebanon (especially in Qom, though a Lebanese community has been present in the nation for centuries), India (mostly arriving temporarily during the 1950s to 1970s, typically working as doctors, engineers, and teachers), Korea (mostly in the 1970s as labour migrants), China (mostly since the 2000s working in engineering or business projects), and Pakistan, partly due to labour migrants and partly to Balochi ties across the Iranian-Pakistani border. About 200,000 Iraqis arrived as refugees in 2003, mostly living in refugee camps near the border; an unknown number of these has since returned to Iraq.

As of 2025, around 400,000 authorized foreigners were working in Iran, most of whom were Afghan nationals.

Over the same period, there has also been substantial emigration from Iran, especially since the Iranian revolution (see Iranian diaspora, Human capital flight from Iran, Jewish exodus from Iran), especially to the United States, Canada, Germany, Israel, and Sweden.

Refugee population

Iran hosts one of the largest refugee population in the world, with more than one million refugees, mostly from Afghanistan (80%) and Iraq (10%). Since 2006, Iranian officials have been working with the UNHCR and Afghan officials for their repatriation. Between 1979 and 1997, UNHCR spent more than US$1 billion on Afghan refugees in Pakistan but only $150 million on those in Iran. In 1999, the Iranian government estimated the cost of maintaining its refugee population at US$10 million per day, compared with the US$18 million UNHCR allocated for all of its operations in Iran in 1999. As of 2016, some 300,000 work permits have been issued for foreign nationals in Iran.

Emigration

Main article: Iranian citizens abroad

The term "Iranian citizens abroad" or " Iranian/Persian diaspora" refers to the Iranian people and their children born in Iran but living outside of Iran. Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006.

As of 2010, there are about four to five million Iranians living abroad, mostly in the United States, Canada, Europe, Persian Gulf States, Turkey, Australia and the broader Middle East. According to the 2000 Census and other independent surveys, there are an estimated 1 million Iranian-Americans living in the U.S., in particular, the Los Angeles area is estimated to be host to approximately 72,000 Iranians, earning the Westwood area of LA the nickname Tehrangeles. Other metropolises that have large Iranian populations include Dubai with 300,000 Iranians, Vancouver, London, Toronto, San Francisco Bay Area, Washington D.C., Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Stockholm, Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt. Their combined net worth is estimated to be $1.3 trillion.

Note that this differs from the other Iranian peoples living in other areas of Greater Iran, who are of related ethnolinguistical family, speaking languages belonging to the Iranian languages which is a branch of Indo-European languages.

People of Iranian ancestry

Tats (Caucasus)

Main article: Tats (Caucasus)

The Tats are an Iranian people, presently living within Azerbaijan and Russia (mainly Southern Dagestan). The Tats are part of the indigenous peoples of Iranian origin in the Caucasus.

Tats use the Tat language, a southwestern Iranian language and a variety of Persian Azerbaijani and Russian are also spoken. Tats are mainly Shia Muslims, with a significant Sunni Muslim minority. Likely the ancestors of modern Tats settled in South Caucasus when the Sassanid Empire from the 3rd to 7th centuries built cities and founded military garrisons to strengthen their positions in this region.

Parsis

Main article: Parsis

The Parsis are the close-knit Zoroastrian community based primarily in India but also found in Pakistan. Parsis are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to the Indian subcontinent over 1,000 years ago. Indian census data (2001) records 69,601 Parsis in India, with a concentration in and around the city of Mumbai. There are approximately 8,000 Parsis elsewhere on the subcontinent, with an estimated 2,500 Parsis in the city of Karachi and approximately 50 Parsi families in Sri Lanka. The number of Parsis worldwide is estimated to be fewer than 100,000.

Iranis

Main article: Iranian peoples

In Pakistan and India, the term "Irani" has come to denote Iranian Zoroastrians who have migrated to Pakistan and India within the last two centuries, as opposed to most Parsis who arrived in India over 1000 years ago. Many of them moved during the Qajar era, when persecution of Iranian Zoroastrians was rampant. They are culturally and linguistically closer to the Zoroastrians of Iran. Unlike the Parsis, they speak a Dari dialect, the language spoken by the Iranian Zoroastrians in Yazd and Kerman. Their last names often resemble modern Iranian names, however Irani is a common surname among them. In India they are mostly located in modern-day Mumbai while in Pakistan they are mostly located in modern-day Karachi. In both Pakistan and India, they are famous for their restaurants and tea-houses. Some, such as Ardeshir Irani, have also become very famous in cinema.

Ajam (Bahrain)

Main article: Ajam (Bahrain)

The "Ajam" are an ethnic community of Bahrain, of Iranian origin. They have traditionally been merchants living in specific quarters of Manama and Muharraq. The Iranians who adhere to Shiite sect of Islam are Ajam, and they are different from the Huwala. Ajams are also a large percentage of the populace in UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman.

In addition to this, many names of ancient villages in Bahrain are of Persian origin. It is believed that these names were given during the Safavid rule of Bahrain (1501–1722). i.e. Karbabad, Salmabad, Karzakan, Duraz, Barbar, which indicates that the history of Ajams is much older.

Huwala

Main article: Huwala

Huwala are the descendants of Persians and Arab-Persians who belong to the Sunni sect of Islam. Huwala migrated from Ahvaz in Iran to the Persian Gulf in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

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