Iran: Owner-Occupancy Declines as Rented Housing Doubles

EghtesadOnline: A new report has drawn on the data released by the National Census and the Statistical Center of Iran to review the pace of population growth and home ownership/tenancy during a 20-year period spanning between the fiscal 1996-97 and 2016-17.

News ID: ۷۸۴۹۰۵

01 October 2019

Iran's population grew 33% during the years under review. With this growth comes the need for more housing. Overall, the number of housing units increased by 111.9% during the period, according to a report by ISNA citing the SCI data.

The percentage of people living in owner-occupied homes decreased from 73.4% in the year ending March 1997 to 60.5% in the year ending March 2017 while the percentage of people living in rented housing almost doubled from 15.4% to 30.7% during the period.

Here’s a look at how population and housing landscape have changed over the 20-year period, Financial Tribune reported.

In the Iranian year ending March 1997, there were 10.77 million housing units for the country’s total population of 60.05 million, which included 12.39 million households. The ratio of households to housing units in both urban and rural areas was 1.15, suggesting that there were 115 households for every 100 homes.

Average household size stood at 4.63 in urban areas and 5.22 in rural areas. Average persons per households were 5.3 in urban areas and six in rural areas. In the same period, 73.4% of the Iranian population lived in owner-occupied units, 15.4% in rented housing and 11.9% in homes other than these two categories.

In the fiscal year ending March 2007, Iranian population grew by 10 million to reach 70.49 million. The number of households stood at 17.5 million, of whom 12.4 million lived in cities and 5.09 million in villages.

The ratio of households to housing units was 1.1, suggesting that for every 100 homes, there were 110 households. Average household size stood at 4.03 and average persons per households were 4.4. About 67.9% of the Iranian population lived in owner-occupied units, 22.9% in rented housing and 9.1% in homes other than these two categories.

Ten year later, in the fiscal 2016-17, Iran’s population increased to 79.92 million, including 24.19 million households. However, the growth in the number of housing units was not commensurate with the increase in the number of households. The number of housing units stood at 22.83 million.

The ratio of households to housing units was 1.06, suggesting that for every 100 homes, there were 106 households. Average household size stood at 3.3 and average persons per households were 3.5. About 60.5% of the Iranian population lived in owner-occupied units, 30.7% in rented housing and 8.8% in homes other than these two categories.

National Census in Iran

The latest national census was held from Sept. 24, 2016, till Nov. 18 in two phases of online and door-to-door registration. It put Iran's population at over 79.92 million, which is about 4.77 million more compared with the previous figure registered by the census of 2011-12.

Based on the findings of the latest census, among all Iranian provinces, Hamedan and North Khorasan recorded negative population growths compared to the previous round of census conducted in the fiscal 2011-12.

The two provinces showed a population growth of -0.23% and -0.11% respectively.

South Khorasan (3.02%), Hormozgan (2.30%) and Alborz (2.37%) topped the list of provinces with the highest population growth rates.

Out of the total of 79,926,270 Iranians or 24,196,035 households, 59,146,847 or 18,125,488 households are living in urban and 20,730,625 people or 6,070,547 households in rural areas. The urban population shows an increase of 5,500,186 and rural population has decreased by 772,383 compared with the previous census.

The census put the number of men at 40,498,442 and the number of women at 39,427,828, meaning the sex ratio stands at 103:100. The previous census put the ratio at 102:100.

The Statistical Center of Iran is the official body in charge of providing data on population, agriculture, manufacturing, trade and economy of Iran. The population and housing census used to be conducted once a decade in Iran, as stipulated by national legislation, in the years between 1956 and 2006. The first such census was completed by the Bureau of General Statistics in 1956; subsequent censuses were conducted by SCI in 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996 and 2006.

The Cabinet adopted a legislation in 2007 whereby the interval for population and housing census was reduced from 10 to five years. The 2011 census was the seventh and the latest National Population and Housing Census of the country.