Map of Iran | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: Known as Persia until 1935 Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling shah was forced into exile. Conservative clerical forces established a theocratic system of government with ultimate political authority vested in a learned religious scholar. A group of Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979 and held it until 20 January 1981. During 1980-88 Iran fought a bloody indecisive war with Iraq over disputed territory. Over the past decade popular dissatisfaction with the government driven by demographic changes restrictive social policies and poor economic conditions has created a powerful and enduring pressure for political reform.


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Location: Middle East bordering the Gulf of Oman the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea between Iraq and Pakistan

Geographic coordinates: 32 00 N 53 00 E

Map reference: Middle East

Area
Total: 1.648 million km²
Land: 1.636 million km²
Water: 12,000 km²
Comparative: slightly larger than Alaska

Land boundaries
Total: 5,440 km
Border countries: (8) Afghanistan 936 km; , Armenia 35 km; , Azerbaijan-proper 432 km; , Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave 179 km; , Iraq 1,458 km; , Pakistan 909 km; , Turkey 499 km; , Turkmenistan 992 km

Coastline: 2,440 km; note - Iran also borders the Caspian Sea (740 km)

Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 NM
Territorial sea: 12 NM
Continental shelf: natural prolongation
Exclusive economic zone: bilateral agreements or median lines in the Persian Gulf

Climate: mostly arid or semiarid subtropical along Caspian coast

Terrain: rugged mountainous rim; high central basin with deserts mountains; small discontinuous plains along both coasts

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m
Extremes highest point: Kuh-e Damavand 5,671 m

Natural resources: petroleum natural gas coal chromium copper iron ore lead manganese zinc sulfur

Land use
Arable land: 10.17%
Permanent crops: 1.16%
Other: 88.67% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 75,620 km² (1998 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: periodic droughts floods; dust storms sandstorms; earthquakes along western border and in the northeast

Geography
Note: strategic location on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz which are vital maritime pathways for crude oil transport


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Population: 68,278,826 (July 2003 est.)
Growth rate: 1.08% (2003 est.)
Below poverty line: 40% (2002 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Iranian
Adjective: Iranian

Ethnic groups: Persian 51% Azeri 24% Gilaki and Mazandarani 8% Kurd 7% Arab 3% Lur 2% Baloch 2% Turkmen 2% other 1%

Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58% Turkic and Turkic dialects 26% Kurdish 9% Luri 2% Balochi 1% Arabic 1% Turkish 1% other 2%

Religions: Shi'a Muslim 89% Sunni Muslim 10% Zoroastrian Jewish Christian and Baha'i 1%

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 29.3% (male 10,279,588; female 9,727,668)
15-64 years: 65.9% (male 22,916,431; female 22,095,124)
65 years and over: 4.8% (male 1,625,113; female 1,634,902) (2003 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age
Total: 22.9 years
Male: 22.7 years
Female: 23.2 years (2002)

Population growth rate: 1.08% (2003 est.)

Birth rate: 17.23 births/1000 population (2003 est.)

Death rate: 5.54 deaths/1000 population (2003 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.86 migrant(s)/1000 population (2003 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: air pollution especially in urban areas from vehicle emissions refinery operations and industrial effluents; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; oil pollution in the Persian Gulf; wetland losses from drought; soil degradation (salination); inadequate supplies of potable water; water pollution from raw sewage and industrial waste; urbanization
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
International agreements signed but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.06 male/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male/female
65 years and over: 0.99 male/female
Total population: 1.04 male/female (2003 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 44.17 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 44.02 deaths/1000 live births (2003 est.)
Male: 44.31 deaths/1000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 69.35 years
Male: 68.04 years
Female: 70.73 years (2003 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.99 children born/woman (2003 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
People living with hivaids: 20,000 (2001 est.)
Deaths: 290 (2001 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 79.4%
Male: 85.6%
Female: 73% (2003 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Islamic Republic of Iran
Conventional short form: Iran
Local short form: Iran
Former: Persia
Local long form: Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran

Government type: theocratic republic

Capital: Tehran

Administrative divisions: 28 provinces (ostanha singular - ostan); Ardabil Azarbayjan-e Gharbi Azarbayjan-e Sharqi Bushehr Chahar Mahall va Bakhtiari Esfahan Fars Gilan Golestan Hamadan Hormozgan Ilam Kerman Kermanshah Khorasan Khuzestan Kohkiluyeh va Buyer Ahmad Kordestan Lorestan Markazi Mazandaran Qazvin Qom Semnan Sistan va Baluchestan Tehran Yazd Zanjan

Dependent areas

Independence: 1 April 1979 (Islamic Republic of Iran proclaimed)

National holiday
Note: additional holidays celebrated widely in Iran include Revolution Day, 11 February (1979); Noruz (New Year's Day), 21 March; Constitutional Monarchy Day, 5 August (1925)

Constitution: 2-3 December 1979; revised 1989 to expand powers of the presidency and eliminate the prime ministership

Legal system: the Constitution codifies Islamic principles of government

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 15 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI (since 4 June 1989)
Elections: leader of the Islamic Revolution appointed for life by the Assembly of Experts; president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 8 June 2001 (next to be held June 2005)
Election results: (Ali) Mohammad KHATAMI-Ardakani reelected president; percent of vote - (Ali) Mohammad KHATAMI-Ardakani 77%
Cabinet: Council of Ministers selected by the president with legislative approval; the Supreme Leader has some control over appointments to the more sensitive ministries
Head of government: President (Ali) Mohammad KHATAMI-Ardakani (since 3 August 1997); First Vice President Dr. Mohammad Reza AREF-YAZDI (since 26 August 2001)

Legislative branch
Elections: last held 18 February 2000 with a runoff held 5 May 2000 (next to be held February 2004)
Election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats by party - reformers 189, conservatives 54, independents 42, seats reserved for religious minorities 5

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: a loose pro-reform coalition called the 2nd Khordad front achieved considerable success at elections to the sixth Majles in early 2000 and groups in the coalition include: Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF); Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaran); Solidarity Party; Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO); and Militant Clerics Society (Ruhaniyun); a new apparently conservative group the Builders of Islamic Iran emerged at the local level in early 2003

International organization participation: CP ECO ESCAP FAO G-15 G-19 G-24 G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICCt (signatory) ICRM IDA IDB IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU NAM OIC OPCW OPEC PCA UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO

Diplomatic representation
In the us: none; note - Iran has an Interests Section in the Pakistani Embassy; address: Iranian Interests Section Pakistani Embassy 2,209 Wisconsin Avenue NW Washington DC 20,007; telephone: [1] (202) 965-4,990
From the us: none; note - protecting power in Iran is Switzerland

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of green (top) white and red; the national emblem (a stylized representation of the word Allah in the shape of a tulip a symbol of martyrdom) in red is centered in the white band; ALLAH AKBAR (God is Great) in white Arabic script is repeated 11 times along the bottom edge of the green band and 11 times along the top edge of the red band

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Iran's economy is a mixture of central planning state ownership of oil and other large enterprises village agriculture and small-scale private trading and service ventures. President KHATAMI has continued to follow the market reform plans of former President RAFSANJANI and has indicated that he will pursue diversification of Iran's oil-reliant economy although he has made little progress toward that goal. Relatively high oil prices in recent years have enabled Iran to amass some $15 billion in foreign exchange reserves but have not solved Iran's structural economic problems including high unemployment and inflation.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 7.6% (2002 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,800 (2002 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 19%
Industry: 26%
Services: 55% (2002 est.)

Agriculture products: wheat rice other grains sugar beets fruits nuts cotton; dairy products wool; caviar

Industries: petroleum petrochemicals textiles cement and other construction materials food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production) metal fabricating armaments

Industrial production growth rate: 5.5% excluding oil (2001 est.)

Labor force
Note: shortage of skilled labor (1998)
By occupation agriculture: 30%
By occupation industry: 25%
By occupation services: 45% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate: 16.3% (2003 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 40% (2002 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: NA%
Highest 10: NA%

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $29.5 billion
Expenditures: $31.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2002 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 21 March - 20 March

Inflation rate consumer prices: 15.3% (2002 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $24.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Commodities: petroleum 85% carpets fruits and nuts iron and steel chemicals
Partners: Japan 17.4% China 8.6% UAE 7.6% Italy 6.6% South Korea 4.9% South Africa 4.4% (2002)

Imports: $21.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Commodities: industrial raw materials and intermediate goods capital goods foodstuffs and other consumer goods technical services military supplies
Partners: Germany 10.9% Italy 9% France 7.9% China 7.4% South Korea 6.5% UAE 4.4% Japan 4.1% Russia 4% (2002)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $8.7 billion (2002 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates
Note: from 1997 to 2001, Iran had a multi-exchange-rate system; one of these rates, the official floating exchange rate, by which most essential goods were imported, averaged 1,750 rials per US dollar; in March 2002, the multi-exchange-rate system was converged into one rate at about 7,900 rials per US dollar


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Electricity
Production: 124.6 billion kWh (2001)
Production by source fossil fuel: 97.1%
Production by source hydro: 2.9%
Production by source other: 0% (2001)
Production by source nuclear: 0%
Consumption: 115.9 billion kWh (2001)
Exports: 0 kWh (2001)
Imports: 0 kWh (2001)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas
Production: 61.5 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Consumption: 65.59 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Exports: 110 million m³ (2001 est.)
Imports: 4.2 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Proven reserves: 24.8 trillion m³ (37,257)

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 6.313 million (1997)
Mobile cellular: 265,000 (August 1998)

Telephone system
General assessment: inadequate but currently being modernized and expanded with the goal of not only improving the efficiency and increasing the volume of the urban service but also bringing telephone service to several thousand villages, not presently connected
Domestic: as a result of heavy investing in the telephone system since 1994, the number of long-distance channels in the microwave radio relay trunk has grown substantially; many villages have been brought into the net; the number of main lines in the urban systems has approximately doubled; and thousands of mobile cellular subscribers are being served; moreover, the technical level of the system has been raised by the installation of thousands of digital switches
International: HF radio and microwave radio relay to Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Kuwait, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; submarine fiber-optic cable to UAE with access to Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line runs from Azerbaijan through the northern portion of Iran to Turkmenistan with expansion to Georgia and Azerbaijan; satellite earth stations - 9 Intelsat and 4 Inmarsat

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .ir
Service providers isps: 100 (2002)
Users: 1.326 million (2002 est.)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $9.7 billion (FY00)
Percent of gdp: 3.1% (FY00)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 309 (2002)
With paved runways total: 122
With paved runways over 3047 m: 39
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 25
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 27
With paved runways under 914 m: 4 (2002)
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 27
With unpaved runways total: 187
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 1
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 9
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 39 (2002)
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 138

Heliports: 13 (2002)

Pipelines: condensate/gas 212 km; gas 16,998 km; liquid petroleum gas 570 km; oil 8,256 km; refined products 7,808 km (2003)

Railways
Total: 7,201 km
Broad gauge: 94 km 1.676-m gauge
Standard gauge: 7,107 km 1.435-m gauge (146 km electrified) (2002)

Roadways

Waterways
Note: the Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 m and is in use

Merchant marine
Total: 139 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 4,190,576 GRT/7,276,700 DWT
Ships by type: bulk 43, cargo 34, chemical tanker 4, container 10, liquefied gas 1, multi-functional large-load carrier 6, petroleum tanker 30, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 9, short-sea passenger 1 (2002 est.)

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: Iran protests Afghanistan's limiting flow of dammed waters on Helmand River tributaries in response to prolonged drought in region; thousands of Afghan refugees still reside in Iran; despite restored diplomatic relations in 1990 disputes with Iraq over maritime and land boundaries navigation channel and other issues from eight-year war persist; UAE engage direct talks and Arab League support to resolve disputes over Iran's occupation of Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island; Iran insists on division of the Caspian Sea into five equal sectors while other littoral states have generally agreed to equidistant seabed boundaries - Iran has threatened Azerbaijanian hydrocarbon exploration in disputed waters

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: despite substantial interdiction efforts Iran remains a key transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin to Europe; domestic narcotics consumption remains a persistent problem and Iranian press reports estimate at least 2 million drug users in the country