September 5th, 2012 / September 3rd, 2018
Political leadership

Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei (since 4 June 1989)
President Hassan Rouhani (since 3 August 2013)
First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri (since 5 August 2013)
Land
Total 1,648,195 sq km;
Land 1,531,595 sq km;
Water 116,600 sq Km; (country comparison to the world: 19)
Boundaries
Total: 5,894 km
Border countries
Afghanistan |
921 km |
Armenia |
44 km |
Azerbaijan |
689 km |
Iraq |
1,599 km |
Pakistan |
959 km |
Turkey |
534 km |
Turkmenistan |
1,148 km |
|
|
Coastline
2,440 km; note - Iran also borders the Caspian Sea (740 km)
Population
81 million (March 2018)
Age structure
0-14 years: 24% 15-64 years: 70% 65+ 6% (March 2017)
Population growth rate
1.34% (March 2017 – March 2018)
Urbanisation
74.9% of total population (2018)
Major cities
TEHRAN (capital) 8.7 million; Mashhad 3.4 million; Esfahan 2.2 million; Karaj 1.97 million; Tabriz 1.8 million; Shiraz 1.9 million (2017 est.)
Ethnic groups
Persian, Azeri, Kurd, Lur, Baloch, Arab, Turkmen and Turkic tribes
Religions
Muslim 99.4% (Shia 90-95%, Sunni 5-10%), other (includes Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian) 0.3%, unspecified 0.4% (2011 est.)
Languages
Persian (official), Azeri and Turkic dialects, Kurdish, Gilaki and Mazandarani, Luri, Balochi, Arabic, other
Literacy
(Age 15+ can read and write) total population: 86.8%; male: 91.2%; female: 82.5% (2015 est.)
Real GDP
$563.83 billion (2017); $540.58 billion (2016)
GDP growth
4.30% (2017); 13.40% (2016)
GDP per capita
$6,946.9 (2017 est.); $6,733.9 (2016 est.)
Unemployment rate (of labour force)
12.1% (April Est. 2018); 12.6% (April Est. 2017)
Population below poverty line
0.2% (2014 est.)
Public debt
39.5% of GDP (2017 est.); 47.5% of GDP (2016 est.)
Inflation rate
9.6% (2017)
We would like to ask you something …
Fanack is an independent media organisation, not funded by any state or any interest group, that distributes in the Middle East and the wider world unbiased analysis and background information, based on facts, about the Middle East and North Africa.
The website grew rapidly in breadth and depth and today forms a rich and valuable source of information on 21 countries, from Morocco to Oman and from Iran to Yemen, both in Arabic and English. We currently reach six million readers annually and growing fast.
In order to guarantee the impartiality of information on the Chronicle, articles are published without by-lines. This also allows correspondents to write more freely about sensitive or controversial issues in their country. All articles are fact-checked before publication to ensure that content is accurate, current and unbiased.
To run such a website is very expensive. With a small donation, you can make a huge impact. And it only takes a minute. Thank you.
Support fanack