Iran's population: number, ethnic and religious composition

Iran - one of the oldest centers of world civilization, and this, of course, affected the composition of the population. A modern man has mastered the territory of this country at the turn of the middle and upper Paleolithic. In the formation of the ethnic image of the state, the settlement of the Aryan tribes that came to the Iranian plateau in the second millennium BC played a big role. Over the centuries, this territory was subjected to invasions and invasions of different peoples, and they all influenced the composition of the population. That is why ethnic groups with purely Iranian roots are not preserved today. In the article we will talk about the number of people in Iran at present, and also talk about the ethnic and religious composition of the country's inhabitants.

general information

As of 2012 (the most recent available data), the population of Iran (total) is 78,868,711 people. About half of the inhabitants are Persians, and the overwhelming majority is Muslim Shiites. It is noteworthy that a quarter of all Iranians are under the age of fifteen.

The population of Iran: ethnic composition

As it was just said, now the main ethnic group of the country is the Persians (from 36 to 61 percent according to various estimates). They live in the territory of the whole state and speak Farsi (it is a state language). Their historical homeland is the province of Pars. However, there are several large ethnic groups in the country. The population of Iran is also represented by Azerbaijanis (16 to 45 percent according to various estimates), who mainly live in the northwestern part of the state, in the so-called Iranian Azerbaijan. It should be noted that Azerbaijanis are the only large national minority in the country that does not belong to the Iranian language family. Representatives of this ethnic group speak the Azerbaijani language.

About 7-10 percent of the state's residents are Kurds. They are mainly concentrated in the west of Iran, in the provinces of Western Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah. Along the Caspian Sea, in the north of the country, live Ghilians, Mazandarans, Talysh (about 7 percent). The population of Iran in the north-east is represented by Turkmens (most of them live in the Golestan region), as well as by the Turkic tribes (Karagozlu, Taymurtash, Karayi) and the ethnic groups of the Charaimaks.

The south-east of the state is occupied by the Baluchis (Sistan and Balochistan). In addition, their separate groups live in the western Mekran, Khorasan and Kerman. In the south-west bakhtiari and luras are concentrated. The same territory is also inhabited by Arabs, they are represented mainly in the province of Khuzestan and on the coast of the Persian Gulf. The other ethnic minorities include Tati, lakas, Armenians, Georgians-Fereydans, Assyrians, tribal associations of khamsa and Kashkais.

Languages

The population of Iran mainly speaks Persian (Farsi), which refers to the Iranian group of Indo-European languages. As the Arab conquests took place the New Persian language began to form, most of the vocabulary in it consists of Arabic words using Arabic script. Farsi, speaking for the Persians native, is a means of inter-ethnic communication. Also among the languages of the Iranian group are Baluchi, Tat, Kurdish, Talysh, Gilan, Lursky (including Kuhiluye), Pashto, Masendaran, Bakhtiyar and Turkic dialects. The Persian alphabet is also used for other languages, except for Jewish and Armenian. In the languages of the Turkic group , more than one-fourth of the population speaks, mostly Turkmen, Azeri Turks and Qashqais. Despite the small number of Arabs in the population of the country, the Arabic language, which is the language of the Islamic sciences and the Koran, is widely used in religious practice. According to the Constitution of Iran, its study in secondary school is compulsory.

Iran's population: religious composition

Islam came to this country together with the Arab conquerors as far back as the 7th century, as a result of which Zoroastrianism was ousted from Persia. Currently, 98 percent of all citizens of the country profess Islam, 90 percent of them are Shiites (Azerbaijanis, Persians, Talyshs, Arabs, Mazandarans, Ghilians) and only 8 percent are Sunni (Baloch, Kurds, Turkmens). Half a percent of the total number of residents (169 thousand people) profess Christianity, it is mainly Assyrians (Nestorians, Chaldeans and Catholics) and Armenians. Also there are small groups of Orthodox. The three Presbyterian communities, divided by the language principle, are Protestants: Assyrians, Persians, Armenians. Besides them, there are Seventh-day Adventists, Anglicans, Pentecostals. In total, there are at least 8,000 Protestants in Iran.

Iranian Jews who live compactly in such large cities as Isfahan, Tehran, Shiraz, profess Judaism, their number is about 10 thousand people. It is noteworthy that the Jews live here more than in any other Muslim state.

Iran is a liberal country

Despite the fact that Iran is an Islamic republic, and, as is known, such states often impose restrictions on followers of other beliefs, liberal laws operate here, which distinguishes it from, for example, countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.