Demographics of Iran

The statistics in this article come from the CIA World Factbook, 2004 edition.

Related Topics:
CIA World Factbook - 2004

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More than two-thirds of Iran's people are of Aryan origin; their ancestors migrated into Iran from Central Asia. The major groups in this category include Persians, Kurds, Lurs, and Baluchi. The remainder are primarily Turks (such as the Azeri Turks and the Qashqai Turks of southeastern Iran) but also include Arabs, Armenians, Jews, and Assyrians.

Related Topics:
Aryan - Iran - Central Asia - Persians - Kurd - Lurs - Baluchi - Turks - Azeri Turks - Qashqai Turks - Arab - Armenia - Jew - Assyria

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The 1979 Islamic revolution and the war with Iraq transformed Iran's class structure politically, socially, and economically. In general, however, Iranian society remains divided into urban, market-town, village, and tribal groups. Clerics, called mullahs, dominate politics and nearly all aspects of Iranian life, both urban and rural. After the fall of the Pahlavi regime in 1979, much of the urban upper class of prominent merchants, industrialists, and professionals, favored by the former Shah, lost standing and influence to the senior clergy and their supporters. Bazaar merchants, who were allied with the clergy against the Pahlavi shahs, have also gained political and economic power since the revolution. The urban working class has enjoyed somewhat enhanced status and economic mobility, spurred in part by opportunities provided by revolutionary organizations and the government bureaucracy.

Related Topics:
Islam - Bazaar - Working class

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Unemployment, a major problem even before the revolution, has many causes, including population growth, the war with Iraq, and shortages of raw materials and trained managers. Farmers and peasants received a psychological boost from the attention given them by the Islamic regime but appear to be hardly better off in economic terms. The government has made progress on rural development, including electrification and road building but has not yet made a commitment to land redistribution.

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Most Iranians are Muslims; 89% belong to the Shi'a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 10% belong to the Sunni branch, which predominates in neighboring Muslim countries. Non-Muslim minorities include Zoroastrians, Jews, Bahá'ís, and Christians.

Related Topics:
Shi'a - Sunni - Zoroastrian - Jew - Bahá'ís - Christian

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Non-Muslim minorities have been shrinking in the past few decades in absolute and relative terms. At the time of the Islamic Revolution there were 80,000 Jews in Iran, today there are only 11,000. Zoroastrian, Bahá'í, and Christian communities are seeing similar contraction. Today there are actually fewer Chaldean Christians (about 8,000) than there are Jews.

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Population:

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68,017,860 (July 2005 est.)

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Age structure:

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0-14 years:

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27.1% (male 9,465,475; female 8,973,828)

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15-64 years:

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68% (male 23,556,970; female 22,701,065)

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65 years and over:

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4.9% (male 1,637,512; female 1,683,010) (2005 est.)

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Median age:

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total:

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24.23 years

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male:

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24.03 years

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female:

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24.44 years (2005 est.)

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Population growth rate:

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0.86% (2005 est.)

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Birth rate:

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16.83 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

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Death rate:

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5.55 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

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Net migration rate:

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