Page last modified 19 August 2023

Iran

Community

Area 1,648,195 square kilometres (land area 1,531,595 square kilometres)

Population,

7,600,000 (1880)

9,700,000 (1900)

15,000,000 (1935)

16,350,000 (1950)

21,900,000 (1960) +33.9%

28,500,000 (1970) +30.1%

38,700,000 (1980) +35.8%

56,300,000 (1990) +45.8%

66,100,000 (2000) +17.4%

73,800,000 (2010) +11.6%

84,000,000 (2020) +13.8%

Ethnicity, %

	Arab	Azeri	Baluchi	Kurdish	Persian	Turkmen
1970	1.9	16.0	2.2	8.2	45.0	1.6
2009	2.0	16.0	2.0	10.0	61.0	2.0

Religion, %

	Christian All	Jewish	Muslim Total	Muslim Shia	Muslim Sunni
1900	1.2	0.5	98.1
1947		0.5
1960			98.0
1970	1.0	0.2	97.8
2009			99.4
2013			99.4	90.0	8.0

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1952		48.0 (+23.0)	190.0	25.0	43.8		26.7
1962	6.9	47.0 (+26.4)		20.6	43.8	3.8	35.1
1972	6.3	44.0 (+29.6)	119.0	14.4	43.8	3.3	43.0
1980	6.5	44.0 (+31.7)	77.0	12.3	43.5	3.0	49.7
1990	4.7	34.0 (+26.8)	44.0	7.2	45.4	3.3	56.3
2000	2.1	19.0 (+13.9)	28.2	5.1	34.9	4.4	64.0
2010	1.8	18.3 (+13.2)	16.5	4.9	24.0	5.1	70.6
2015	2.0	17.1 (+12.6)	13.8	4.5	23.8	5.8	73.4
2017	2.1	19.0 (+14.5)	12.8	4.5
2018			12.4		24.5	6.2	74.9

Life expectancy,

46.1 (1952); 46.1 (M), 46.1 (F)

44.9 (1960); 45.7 (M), 44.1 (F)

50.9 (1970); 50.8 (M), 50.9 (F)

54.6 (1980); 50.2* (M), 59.3 (F)

63.9 (1990); 61.6 (M), 66.3 (F)

70.1 (2000); 69.2 (M), 71.1 (F)

74.0 (2010); 72.5 (M), 75.5 (F)

76.7 (2020); 75.6 (M), 78.0 (F)

*Dip in male life expectancy during Iran-Iraq war, down to 46.8 in 1983. Trend life expectancy for males in 1983 was ca. 56.5 years.

Population of principal cities, 1,000s MA = Metropolitan Area

	Abadan	Esfahan	Kermanshah	Mashhad	Qom	Shiraz	Tabriz	TEHRAN^1
1790								50
1812						60
1860						30^2	170	100
1890						32
1900		60	30	60		40	180	210
1910	0.4							280
1933		100	70	139		120	220	360
1942	40	205	89	176		129	214	699
1950	194	219	108	208		147	249	1,073
1956	220	255	125	241	97	171	290	1,512
1966	270	575	141	417	134		468	2,803
1976	294	662	624	668	247	426	598	4,530
1986	0^3	987	624	1,464	543	848	971	6,042
1991	85
1996		1,266	692		778	1,053	1,191	6,759
2001	206
2006	218	1,602	795	2,247	959	1,227	1,398	7,798
2016		1,961	1,084	3,373 MA	1,201	1,869	1,733	15,000 MA

¹Founded in 1200, Tehran was made the capital of Persia in 1788.

²Population of Shiraz reduced in the early 1800s due to three earthquakes in 1812, 1824 and 1853.

³Abadan was virtually abandoned during the Iran-Iraq war, 1980-86. In 1986 just 6 people were recorded as living there.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1960	4,200	0.77	192	6.39
1965	6,200	0.83	240	6.27
1970	9,740	0.94	340	6.48
1975	48,410	2.96	1,450	18.54
1980	93,770	3.35	2,445	19.41
1985	79,860	1.90	1,670	9.14
1990	88,170	1.52	1,488	6.21
1995	87,390	1.18	1,367	4.55
2000	109,000	1.09	1,657	4.55
2005	196,300	1.50	3,121	7.04
2010	467,000	3.12	6,273	12.97
2015	393,400	2.18	4,960	8.82
2016	404,000	2.18

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1960		54.0		23.0		23.0
1970		64.0
1980	39.0	39.0		34.0		27.0
1990	21.0	36.4	31.0	32.8	48.0	30.8
2000	11.7		40.6
2010	11.0	24.0	45.9	31.0	43.1	45.0
2013		16.3		35.1		48.6
2016	9.8		34.3		55.9

Communications

Language Official; Farsi (Persian)

	Arabic	Azeri	Farsi	Kurdish	Turkish
1980		26.0	54.0	9.0
2009	1.0	26.0	58.0	9.0	1.0

Literacy

13.0% (1956)

16.0% (1960)

20.0% (1962)

36.9% (1972)

42.7% (1980); 54.7% (M), 29.9% (F)

50.5% (1985); 62.0% (M), 39.0% (F)

72.1% (1995); 78.4% (M), 65.8% (F)

77.1% (2000); 83.8% (M), 70.2% (F)

77.0% (2010); 83.5% (M), 70.4% (F)

86.8% (2015); 91.2% (M), 82.5% (F)

Physical communications � roads and railways, First railway in Iran opened 1888, short horse-drawn line south of Tehran to the shrine of Shah Abdul Azim; later converted to steam, closed 1952. First mainline railway in Iran opened 1917. A rail link to Turkmenistan opened in 1996.

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles	Railways (km)	% Electric
1920						291
1930						420
1940	15,000					2,083
1950	27,400			12,000	12,000	2,665
1959		960		50,000	32,000	3,300
1960						3,550
1961	33,000			96,400	42,200
1965	34,140	4,907	168,000
1967				169,374	57,735
1970		10,749				4,000
1977	52,000			932,700	204,000
1980		19,000				4,400
1983	110,927				313,000
1986		56,000	2,125,000	1,600,000			3.5
1990	150,000		2,894,430	1,970,000		4,800
2002					590,000	7,000	2.2
2006	170,000	125,908	7,360,000
2010	198,866	160,366	10,100,000			8,442	2.2
2013			12,740,000
2014			13,360,000	11,980,000	1,380,000	8,484	2.2

Urban metro systems, kilometres (year opened)

	Mashad (2011)	Tabriz (2015)	Tehran (1999)*
2010			80.0
2012	19.0	17.0 planned, u/con
2016	32.0	7.0 in use	221.0

*Construction of the Tehran metro began in 1977 but was delayed by the Iranian Revolution.

Electronic communications, TV broadcasts began 1958 (full-schedule colour from 1978; Asian Games broadcast in colour in 1974)

	Telephones (landlines) 1,000s	Mobile Telephones	Radios 1,000s	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1947	16
1950			184
1958			450
1959				3,500
1960	92		935
1961				40,000
1962	140		1,100
1970	500
1975			8,000	1,600,000
1976				1,720,000
1978	829
1980	915		10,000	2,100,000
1990	2,192		13,400	3,620,000
1994		9,200			800,000
1995		15,000	16,000	4,300,000	1,500,000
2000	9,488	962,600	17,900	10,500,000	4,000,000
2002						3,168,000
2003				11,600,000		7,000,000
2005		7,222,500			7,400,000
2007				15,000,000
2010	26,849	67,500,000				30,000,000
2012						43,000,000
2016	30,818	74,219,000				56,700,000

Tourism: Visitors to Iran,

389,992 (1974)

185,800 (1981)

69,000 (1987)

154,000 (1990)

568,000 (1995)

1,342,000 (2000)

1,889,000 (2005)

2,938,000 (2010)

5,237,000 (2015)