Iran's population increased dramatically during the later half of the 20th century, reaching about 80 million by 2016.^[1][2] As of 2022^[update], Iran's population is around 86.5 million.^[3] In recent years, however, Iran's birth rate has dropped significantly. Studies project that Iran's rate of population growth will continue to slow until it stabilises above 100 million by 2050.^[4][5] Half of Iran's population was under 35 years old in 2012.^[6]

In 2009, the number of households stood at 15.3 million (4.8 persons per household).^[7] Families earn some 11.8 million rials (about $960) per month on average (2012).^[8]

According to the OECD/World Bank statistics population growth in Iran from 1990 to 2008 was 17.6 million and 32%.^[9] The literacy rate was 80% in 2002,^[10][11] and 85% in 2016.^[12] The fertility rate has fallen to 1.6, below the natural replacement rate of 2.1.^[13]

According to the 2016 population census the population of Iran was 79.9 million,^[1] 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.

In 1960, Iran’s fertility rate was 7.3 children per woman. In 2021, the rate had fallen to 1.7 children per woman. A rate at 1.7 may seem good, but it can actually be quite harmful, as it is below replacement rate. Replacement rate is a term that refers to levels of childbearing, and is often calculated to be 2.1 children per woman. When the total fertility rate is below 2.1, this means that the country is faced with an ageing population, which can cause many problems for the country, including increased expenditure on health and long-term care, and labour-force shortages.

Studies show that there are several potential reasons for why Iran is facing a fertility crisis. 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.

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 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.^[21][22]

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.^[23]

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%; Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages 18%; Kurdish 10%; Arabic 2%; Balochi 2%; others 2% (Armenian, Georgian, Circassian, Assyrian, etc.).^[24]

According to anthropologist Brian Spooner, around half of Iran's population uses a language other than Persian at home and in informal public situations.^[25]

Other sources, such as the Library of Congress, and the Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden)^[26] give Iran's ethnic groups as following: Persians 65%, Azerbaijanis 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%.^[27] For sources prior to and after 2000, see Languages and ethnicities in Iran.

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.^[28]

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

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.^[11] 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 between 110,000,^[31] 250,000,^[32] and 300,000,^[33] adherents. There are hundreds of Christian churches in Iran.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[34][35] Unofficial estimates for the Assyrian Christian population range between 20,000,^[36][37] and 70,000.^[38][39] 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.^[40] Whereas Alarabiya has put the number of Iranian Mandaeans as high as 60,000 in 2011.^[41]

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.^[42]

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.^[28][43] 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.^[44] 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.^[45]

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.

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.^[46][47] 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.^[47] As of 2016, some 300,000 work permits have been issued for foreign nationals in Iran.^[48]

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[49]

Age structure^[50]

0–14 years: 24.11% (male 10,472,844/female 10,000,028)

15–24 years: 13.36% (male 5,806,034/female 5,537,561)

25–54 years: 48.94% (male 21,235,038/female 20,327,384)

55–64 years: 7.72% (male 3,220,074/female 3,337,420)

65 years and over: 5.87% (male 2,316,677/female 2,670,254) (2020 est.)

Median age

total: 31.7 years

male: 31.5 years

female: 32 years (2020 est.)

Population growth rate

1.03% (2021 est.)

Birth rate

15.78 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)

Death rate

5.14 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 76.3% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanisation: 1.32% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

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.)

Total fertility rate

1.93 children born/woman (2021 est.)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 85.5%

male: 90.4%

female: 80.8% (2016)

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,^{[citation needed]} mostly living in refugee camps near the border; an unknown number of these has since returned to Iraq.

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.

• Culture of Iran
• Economy of Iran
• Education in Iran
• Ethnic groups in West Asia
• Health care in Iran
  • Family planning in Iran
• Human rights in Iran
• Human capital flight from Iran
• Immigration to Iran
• Iranian names
• Social class in Iran
• Women in Iran
• List of Iranians