Iran at A Glance

Historical Background
The Iranian Plateau is the cradle of one of the oldest civilizations in Asia. We have clear evidence that this plateau has been inhabited by different people since antiquity though the exact date is not yet clear. The Aryans started dueling in the Iranian plateau since 2nd millennium B.C. and Achaemenids dynasty established the first Great Iranian Empire in 330 B.C. Then various dynasties including Seleucids, Parthians, Sasanians, Omavids, Abbasids, Saffarids, Samanians Buyids, Ghaznavids, Seljuqs, Khwarezm-shahs, Il-Khans, Mozafarians, Timurids, Turkmen, Safarids, Afsharis, Qajars and Pahlavi ruled over Iran. Bahman 1357 (Feb. 1979) witnessed collapse of 2500 years of royal rule over Iran through the Iranian revolution led by Ayatollah (Imam) Khomeini which resulted in the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Natural Geography
Iran is located at the heart of the Middle-East and bridges the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf and the east of Asia to the west of Asia. Iran has complex climate ranging from subtropical to subpolar and at the same time you may witness all four seasons in the different parts of its territory.
• Area: 1648195 square Km (the 17th in the world)
• Climate: Semi-arid with average 250mm rainfall per year.
• Location: In the Middle-East, West Asia.
• Neighboring Countries: Turkmenistan, Azerbaidzhan, Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan (along the Caspian Sea Coast) Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait (along the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf), Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Number of Provinces: 30
• Cities: 982
• Villages: 68122
• The length of common borders with neighboring countries: 8731km
• The length of coastal borders: 2700km

 
Population and Human Sources

Given the fact that the youth comprises majority of the population in Iran, preparing the ground to enjoy their capabilities through their active participation in various areas and attending to their problems are of paramount importance.
• Total population: 70.49 million(2006)
• Urban population: 48.24 million
• Rural population: 22.25 million
• Distribution of population: %41.6
• Population growth rate: %1.6
• Unemployment rate: %7.75
• Active population: 23.46 million
• Number of government employees: 2.156 million
• Main official religion: Shia Ithna-Ashari (Religion of about %99.56)
• Other religions, officially recognized by the government: Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christianity,
• Official language: Persian (Farsi)
• Calligraphy: Persian alphabet comprising 32 letters.
• Calendar: Hejira (immigration) of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon His Soul) Computed according to solar calendar.

Government
After the collapse of Pahlavi dynasty in Bahman 1357 (Feb 1979) people of Iran unanimously (%99.8) voted for the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran during a referendum held for the establishment of a new political system in Iran.
• Type of the government: Islamic Republic
• Date of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran: Bahman 22nd 1357 (Feb 1979).
• Structure: The supreme leader is at the head of all judicial, executive and legislative branches and the president is at the head of the executive branch. It is to be noted the at all three executive, judicial and legislative branches are independent from each other. The president is at the head of the executive branch and is elected by direct popular vote for a four year term. The executive branch consists of 21 Ministries as well as a number of organizations and institutions which function under direct supervision of deputies of the president.
• Legislative branch: Unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majles-e-Shura-ye-Islamic has 290 deputies who are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The Speaker of the Assembly is elected annually by the deputies.
• Judicial branch: The Head of the judicial branch is appointed by the supreme leader to serve a five-year term.
• Expediency council: The Expediency Council consists of 34 members in addition to all members of the Expert Assembly.
• Expert assembly: The Expert Assembly comprises 12 members (6 competent jurisprudents appointed by the Supreme Leader and 6 jurists proposed by the Head of the Judicial Branch and elected by the Islamic Consultative Assembly).

Women’s Affairs
• Female population: 34.3 million
• Proportion of female population to the employed population: %49
• Proportion of female teacher to the total number of teachers: %50.5
• Proportion of female students to the total number of Students: %50
• Female students entered the universities: %64
• Total number of female students at universities: 435635
• Number of female employees in public sector: 710233 (%22)
• Proportion of the number of female employees in the public sector: %9.4
• Womens’ NGO’s: 139
• Number of female deputies in the Islamic Consultative Assembly: 12
• Proportion of the number of female deputies to the total number of deputies in the Assembly: %4
• Number of sports women covered by the associations for womens’ sports: Around 1 million

Economic Indexes
• Currency: Rial

GDP (purchasing power parity): 599.2 billions USD (2006)
• Annual budget: 968000 billion Rials
• Liquidity: 418000 billion Rials

• Labor force: 24.29 million
• Industrial production growth rate: %7.4

• Agriculture products: wheat, rice, other grain, sugar beets,

 fruits, nuts, cotton, dairy products, wool, caviar.

• Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, fertilizers, caustic soda,

 Textiles, cement & other construction materials, food processing …

• Imports: 28.795 million US$
• Imports-main commodities: Heavy machineries, food stuffs and animal products, chemical products, and electronic and electric products.
• Exports: 33.788 million US$
• Export-Main Commodities: Oil, gas, agricultural products, carpets, khaviar, pistachio, iron, steel, engineering and technical machineries as well as machinaries used in the service sector.
• Income per capita: 12335000 Rials (about 1600 US$)
• Main trade partners: Emirate, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, South Korea,Turkey and India
• Exporting Institutions 6300
• Foreign exchange reserve: 9.527 billion US$
• Inflation rate: %12

Indexes of the Agricultural Sector
• Lands under cultivation: 17.6 million Hectares
• Agricultural & animal production: Wheat more than 13.5 million tons
• Barley: 3.085 million tons
• Rice: 2.888 million tons
• Corn: 2 million tons
• Meat: 1 million tons
• Poultry: 1.500 tons
• Milk: 8 million tons
• Sugar: 1350000 tons
• Green carpet: 142 million hectares
• Grazing and: 90 million hectare

Indexes of the Industry & Mine Sector
• The share of this sector in GDP: %44
• Main industries: Oil & gas, petrochemicals, steel, textile and automobile-manufacturing
• Main handicrafts: Carpet, glim, pottery, inlaid works,
• Number of the employed people: 5556000
• Number of automobile manufacturing factories’ output: 837195
• Steel production: 10 million tons
• Concrete production: 29.299 million tons
• Most important mines: Coat, metallic minerals, salt, chemical mines, stones
• Value added of mineral products: 4618050 million Rials
• Number of mines under exploitation: 2886
• Number of mines in governmental sector: 473
• Number of mines in the private sector: 3400

Energy
Given the fact that energy is the main factor for the progress and development of every country the Government of the Islamic Republic has made many efforts regarding this sector.
Electricity is an infrastructural sector which is vital for the development of industries and social life in every country. This sector is of paramount importance in the progress and economic development and as a mother industry is considered as the main impetus for the growth and infrastructural activities in the economic sector.
• Oil proved reserves: 138.4 billion bbl/ day (2006)

• Oil production capacity: 1.632 billion barrels per year
• Direct crude oil export: 932 million barrels per year
• Number of oil refineries: 9
• Iranian gas reserves: 26.75 Trillion cubic meter
• Capacity of gas production:96.77 billion cubic meter
• Number of gas network Subscribers: 6.7 million
• Number of cities enjoying gas pipeline:1024
• Length of urban gas pipe lines: 79000 Km
• Petrochemical production: 13.1 million tons per year
• Electricity Production: 193270 Mega wh
• Number of villages enjoying electricity: 49000
• Number of electricity subscribers:  18.8 million
• Number of dams (soil & concrete): 157 (13 before revolution, 144 after revolution)
• Number of dams under construction: 88
• Rank in dam construction: Third place after China and Turkey
• Number of subscribers to the urban water pipe lines: 9.240 million
• Number of cities enjoying potable water pipe lines: 760

Commercial Sector  

• Total trade exchange: 209000 billion Rials
• Imports: 26.151 billion US$
• Non-oil export: 5.5 billion US$
• Number of free-trade & industrial zones: 6
• Number of special economic areas: 16
• Local investment in free zones: 4636 billion Rials
• Average investment growth; %31
• Number of foreign invested projects:159
• Total foreign investment since the victory of the revolutions: 8,223,755,000 US$

Post & Telecommunication
• Number of fixed telephone lines: more than 23 million
• Cell phones lines: more than 24 million
• Villages enjoying telephone lines: 61017
• Cities enjoying cell phone network: 771
• Postal parcels: 414 million per year
• Internet users: more than 34 million

Road & Transportation
• Length of roads: 179388 km
• Length of high ways: 15000 km
• Railways: 8657 km
 • Number of railways passengers: 17.397 million per year
• Number of airways passengers: 11.891 million per year
• Number of roadways passengers: 217.7 million per year
• Number of airports: 129

Indexes of cultural and Educational Sector
• Total number of students: 15.422 million
• Number of students at primary level: 6.29 million
• Number of students at secondary level: 4.371 million
• Number of students at high schools: 4.772 million
• Number of especial students: 72000
• Number of private schools: 9414
• Total Number of students of universities: 2117000
• Number of students in public universities: 888889
• Number of students in Azad universities: 1022018
• Number of students at pre-bachelor level: 589800
• Number of students in bachelor level: 1389869
• Number of students at master level: 92991
• Number of students at Phd level and above: 59784
• Literacy, age of 6 and over: %92.7

• Foreign tourists: 1.585.000

Press

• Total number of printed press: 2871
• Number of licensed newspapers: 196
• Number of printing newspapers: 119
• Number of locally printing newspapers: 17
• Number of English language newspapers: 4
• Number of Arabic language newspapers: 2
• Number of Armenian language newspapers: 1
• Number of the newspapers published for the blind. 1
• Total number of TV networks: 42
• Number o provincial TV networks: 30
• Number of nation-wide TV networks: 6
• Number of international TV network: 4
• Number of radio networks: 8
• Number of cinemas in use: 268
• Number of cinema-goers: 17.809 million
• Number of movies produced: 94
• Number of public libraries: 1700
• Number of printed book titles: 54000
• Circulation of printed books: 153753000
• Number of representative of foreign news agencies or press in Iran: 80

Health & Treatment
• Number of hospitals: 758
• Number of hospital beds: 255000
• Hospital bed distributor: 1 bed for 499 people
• Number of heath and treatment centers: 7345
• Number of health houses: 16023
• Number of emergency centers: 438
• Number of factories producing medicines: 122
• Life expectancy at birth: 70 year

• Number of people insured with Social Security Insurance: 8.16 million
• Number of people insured with the Health Care Insurance: 34750000
• Percentage of the insured: %90