A Quarter of Iran’s Population Lives in 8 Cities

EghtesadOnline: Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, Tabriz, Qom and Ahvaz are Iranian cities with a population of over one million people, the latest National Population and Housing Census carried out in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2017) showed.

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16 October 2017

Tehran, which is home to 8.69 million people accounted for 14.7% of the country’s total population, a report by the Statistical Center of Iran reads.

A total of 3 million people lived in Mashhad, the second most populous city in Iran and capital of Khorasan Razavi Province. The population of Isfahan was 1.96 million, Karaj 1.59 million, Shiraz 1.56 million, Tabriz 1.55 million, Qom 1.2 million and Ahvaz 1.18 million.

The latest census puts Iran's population at over 79.92 million, which is about 4.77 million more compared to the previous figure registered by the census conducted in 2011-12, according to Financial Tribune.

Data from the previous census showed 8.15 million people lived in Tehran, 2.74 million in Mashhad, 1.75 in Isfahan, 1.61 million in Karaj, 1.49 million in Tabriz, 1.46 million in Shiraz, 1.11 million in Ahvaz and 1.07 million in Qom.

Close to 35.1% of Iran’s urban population lived in these eight cities in 2016-17 compared to 36.2% five years before. A total of 25.8% or nearly a quarter of country’s population lived in these cities in 2011-12.

The proportion of population living in Iranian metropolises increased to 26% last year.

Tehran alone is home to 41.9% of the country’s urban population, followed by Mashhad (14.5%) and Isfahan (9.4%).

The least populated towns in Iran in 1395 were Sumar in Kermanshah Province with 180 people; Balavah in Ilam with 264 people and Gazanak in Mazandaran with 319 people.