Iran Population 2023 (Live)

According to recent projections, Iran is expected to reach its peak population of 105.23 million at the end of 2061. Following its peak, the population is projected to slowly decline, falling to 98.83 million people by the end of the century. Based on these projections, Iran will reach 100 million people by the end of 2043.

Iran’s population growth rate is about 1.1%, a rate that has slowed down in recent decades. Iran’s fertility rate has been just over 2.1 births per woman consistently for the past few years, keeping the rate just above the population replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman.

Iran Population Growth

The population of Iran is increasing at an alarming rate. This is also due to the people migrating from the surrounding countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) for security reasons. The population of Iran changed and increased drastically during the past years, but now it is expected to drop by 2101 according to the deputy health minister of Iran, Fatima Rakhshani.

Iran Population Projections

Iran's young population is expected to reach 14 percent of the total population in 2050.

Iran Area and Population Density

Iran as a mountainous nation found in Western Asia, in between the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. It has an area of 636,372 square miles (1,648,195 square kilometers), however much of this land is uninhabitable, giving it a population density of 30 people per square mile (49.29 people per square kilometer).

Largest Cities in Iran

The largest city and capital is Tehran, which has a population of nearly 8.4 million. The larger Tehran metropolitan area has a population estimated at 14 million, which makes it the largest city in all of Western Asia and one of the three largest cities in the Middle East after Cairo and Istanbul. Tehran has a population density of 11,887 people per square kilometer (30,790/square mile).

Iran, which is also called Persia or the Islamic Republic of Iran, is located in western Asia. Adjoining Iran to the north are Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia, with Kazakhstan and Russia to the north across the Caspian Sea. Iran's east is bordered by Pakistan and Afghanistan, and its south is bordered by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. It is bordered on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey.

Iran is home to many different cultures and religions, and Iran offers freedom to practice and carry these out in their own ways. Moreover, Iran has the fourth largest petroleum reserves and largest natural gas reserves. Iran is one of the oldest civilizations in the world dating back to 3200-2800 BC.

Iran Demographics

Iran is a very diverse country although the Iranian government does not collect information about ethnicity through its census. The largest ethnic groups are the Persians and Azerbaijanis. About 79% of the population belong to an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group. Persians account for 61% of the population, followed by Kurds (10%), Lurs (6%), and Balochs (2%). Other ethnicities account for the remaining 21%, including the Azerbaijanis (16%), Arabs (2%), Turkmens and Turkic tribes (2%), as well as Armenians, Assyrians, and Georgians.

Languages used in Iran include: Persian (official), Azeri Turkic and Turkic dialects, Kurdish, Gilaki and Mazandarani, Luri, Balochi, Arabic, and other languages.

Iran Religion, Economy and Politics

The major part (89%) of the population in Iran is Shi'a Muslim, 10% is Sunni Muslim, and the remaining 1% are Christian, Zoroastrian, Baha’i and Jewish. Judaism has a very long history in the country, although the Revolution and the establishment of Israel have left just under 9,000 Jews in the country. Christians are the largest minority religion at 250,000 to 370,000. Most Christians have an Armenian origin.

Iran has one of the largest refugee populations in the world, containing more than one million refugees, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran also has a sizeable diaspora as over 5 million Iranians emigrated to other countries following the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Iran Population History

From 1880 till 1920 the population of Iran remained at 10 million or below. From 1920 on it increased steadily, and the population rate reached 20 million by 1955. Then, according to the statistics, the drastic increase made the population reach 50 million in 1985. After increasing to 60 in 1995, it grew straight up to 70 million in 2005. The population statistics graph shows how dramatically the population had been increasing from year to year, and now the population of Iran is over 78 million.