Iran reappeared at the center of international attention, following Israeli attacks on the second largest country in the Middle East on June 13.
Extending from the Caspian Sea to the north to the Gulf of Oman to the south, the Iranian landscape is as varied as its history, with key access to the criticism -saving sailors, including the Hormuz Strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil flows.
The history of Iran extends over millennia, which makes it one of the oldest and culturally rich nations in the world, inhabited and influential permanently through history.
In this visual explanator, Al Jazeera provides an instantaneous of the geography of Iran, key cities, makeup of the population and ethnic diversity.
Iran at a glance
With a population of 92 million inhabitants, Iran is the 17th largest country in the world by the population and the land zone.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of Iran is $ 418 billion, classifying it 36th in terms of economic size. It has an unemployment rate of around 7.2%.
The rate of literacy of the country’s adults is 89%, young people approaching 99%, although these rates vary between rural and urban areas.
The country is rich in oil and gas, ranking as the ninth producer of world oil and the third largest producer of natural gas.
What is the size of Iran?
Located in Western Asia, Iran is the second largest country in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia and the 17th largest in the world, covering around 1.65 million square kilometers (636,000 square miles).
Iran shares land borders with seven countries, the longest being Iraq, followed by Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkiye and Armenia.
Iran covers about a sixth of the equivalent land area of the United States, almost as large as the state of Alaska.
It is approximately a sixth of the size of Europe, about one fifth of the size of Australia, about half the size of India and about 80 times larger than Israel.
Where are the main population centers of Iran?
Most of the 92 million people in Iran live in the western half of the country, where the land has robust mountains alongside fertile valleys and river basins that support a large part of the population.
With 9.6 million inhabitants, Tehran has been the capital since 1795 and is the largest city in the country. Located under the mountains of Alborz, the story of Tehran dates back over 6,000 years.
Mashhad, in the northeast, is the second city in Iran with 3.4 million people and a story covering more than 1,200 years. It is a large religious and cultural center and houses the sanctuary of Imam Reza, which brings millions of pilgrims from around the world.
Isfahan, the third largest city, is home to some 2.3 million people. More than 2,500 years, the city was once the capital of the Safavid Empire, which lasted from 1501 to 1722. Isfahan welcomed major educational establishments and is a textile, steel and manufacturing center, as well as nuclear and aerospace industries.
The other Iran -populated cities include: Shiraz (1.7 million), Tabriz (1.7 million), Karaj (1.6 million), Qom (1.4 million) and Ahvaz (1.3 million).
Demographic ventilation
According to figures from the United Nations Statistics Division.
The median age of the country is 33 to 34 years and around 77% of Iranians live in urban areas.
The largest age groups in Iran are 30 to 34 and 35 to 39 years old, which means that most of the population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution which overthrew the Pahlavi Shah regime.
However, there has been a significant emigration of Iranian professionals in recent years, largely motivated by economic difficulties.
What are the Iranian ethnic groups?
Iran is a very diverse country, ethnically and culturally. Persians represent approximately 61%of the population, while important minority groups include Azerbaijani (16%), Kurds (10%) and others, such as lups (6%), Arabs (2%), Baloch (2%) and Turkish groups (2%).
Iran is mainly Shiite Muslim, representing approximately 90% of the population, while Sunni Muslims and other Muslim sects represent around 9%. The remaining 1% include around 300,000 Baha’i, 300,000 Christians, 35,000 Zoroastrians, 20,000 Jews and 10,000 Mandeans Sabean according to the Minority rights Band.
In border regions such as Kurdistan, Khuzestan and Sistan-Balucan, ethnic groups play a key role in the formation of ethnic and religious diversity of the country as well as its regional policy.
While Persian (Farsi) is the official national language, many regions across the country speak a variety of other languages.
