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Compare Iran (2008) - World (2002)
Compare Iran (2008) z World (2002)
| Iran (2008) | World (2002) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 30 provinces (ostanha, singular - ostan); Ardabil, Azarbayjan-e Gharbi, Azarbayjan-e Sharqi, Bushehr, Chahar Mahall va Bakhtiari, Esfahan, Fars, Gilan, Golestan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Ilam, Kerman, Kermanshah, Khorasan-e Janubi, Khorasan-e Razavi, Khorasan-e Shemali, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh va Buyer Ahmad, Kordestan, Lorestan, Markazi, Mazandaran, Qazvin, Qom, Semnan, Sistan va Baluchestan, Tehran, Yazd, Zanjan | 268 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 23.2% (male 7,783,794/female 7,385,721)
15-64 years: 71.4% (male 23,636,883/female 23,088,934) 65 years and over: 5.4% (male 1,701,727/female 1,800,462) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851)
15-64 years: 63.7% (male 2,009,997,089; female 1,964,938,201) 65 years and over: 7.1% (male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2002 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, sugar cane, fruits, nuts, cotton; dairy products, wool; caviar | - |
| Airports | 331 (2007) | - |
| Airports - with paved runways | total: 129
over 3,047 m: 40 2,438 to 3,047 m: 28 1,524 to 2,437 m: 24 914 to 1,523 m: 32 under 914 m: 5 (2007) |
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| Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 202
over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 10 914 to 1,523 m: 145 under 914 m: 46 (2007) |
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| Area | total: 1.648 million sq km
land: 1.636 million sq km water: 12,000 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
| Area - comparative | slightly larger than Alaska | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
| Background | Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and the shah was forced into exile. Conservative clerical forces established a theocratic system of government with ultimate political authority vested in a learned religious scholar referred to commonly as the Supreme Leader who, according to the constitution, is accountable only to the Assembly of Experts. US-Iranian relations have been strained since a group of Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979 and held it until 20 January 1981. During 1980-88, Iran fought a bloody, indecisive war with Iraq that eventually expanded into the Persian Gulf and led to clashes between US Navy and Iranian military forces between 1987 and 1988. Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism for its activities in Lebanon and elsewhere in the world and remains subject to US and UN economic sanctions and export controls because of its continued involvement in terrorism and conventional weapons proliferation. Following the election of reformer Hojjat ol-Eslam Mohammad KHATAMI as president in 1997 and similarly a reformer Majles (parliament) in 2000, a campaign to foster political reform in response to popular dissatisfaction was initiated. The movement floundered as conservative politicians, through the control of unelected institutions, prevented reform measures from being enacted and increased repressive measures. Starting with nationwide municipal elections in 2003 and continuing through Majles elections in 2004, conservatives reestablished control over Iran's elected government institutions, which culminated with the August 2005 inauguration of hardliner Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD as president. In December 2006 and March 2007, the international community passed resolutions 1737 and 1747 respectively after Iran failed to comply with UN demands to halt the enrichment of uranium or to agree to full IAEA oversight of its nuclear program. In October 2007, Iranian entities were also subject to US sanctions under EO 13382 designations for proliferation activities and EO 13224 designations for providing material support to the Taliban and other terrorist organizations. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
| Birth rate | 16.57 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 21.16 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Budget | revenues: $64 billion
expenditures: $64 billion (2007 est.) |
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| Capital | name: Tehran
geographic coordinates: 35 40 N, 51 25 E time difference: UTC+3.5 (8.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
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| Climate | mostly arid or semiarid, subtropical along Caspian coast | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
| Coastline | 2,440 km; note - Iran also borders the Caspian Sea (740 km) | 356,000 km |
| Constitution | 2-3 December 1979; revised 1989 to expand powers of the presidency and eliminate the prime ministership | - |
| Country name | conventional long form: Islamic Republic of Iran
conventional short form: Iran local long form: Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran local short form: Iran former: Persia |
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| Death rate | 5.65 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Debt - external | $13.8 billion (31 December 2007 est.) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2001 est.) |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | none; note - the American Interests Section is located in the Swiss Embassy compound at Africa Avenue, West Farzan Street, number 59, Tehran, Iran; telephone 021 8878 2964 or 021 8879 2364; FAX 021 8877 3265 | - |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | none; note - Iran has an Interests Section in the Pakistani Embassy; address: Iranian Interests Section, Pakistani Embassy, 2209 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007; telephone: [1] (202) 965-4990; FAX [1] (202) 965-1073 | - |
| Disputes - international | Iran protests Afghanistan's limiting flow of dammed tributaries to the Helmand River in periods of drought; Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf; Iran and UAE dispute Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island, which are occupied by Iran; Iran stands alone among littoral states in insisting upon a division of the Caspian Sea into five equal sectors | - |
| Economic aid - recipient | $104 million (2005 est.) | official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion (2001 est.) |
| Economy - overview | Iran's economy is marked by an inefficient state sector, reliance on the oil sector (which provides 85% of government revenues), and statist policies that create major distortions throughout. Most economic activity is controlled by the state. Private sector activity is typically small-scale workshops, farming, and services. President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD failed to make any notable progress in fulfilling the goals of the nation's latest five-year plan. A combination of price controls and subsidies, particularly on food and energy, continue to weigh down the economy, and administrative controls, widespread corruption, and other rigidities undermine the potential for private-sector-led growth. As a result of these inefficiencies, significant informal market activity flourishes and shortages are common. High oil prices in recent years have enabled Iran to amass nearly $70 billion in foreign exchange reserves. Yet this increased revenue has not eased economic hardships, which include double-digit unemployment and inflation. The economy has seen only moderate growth. Iran's educated population, economic inefficiency and insufficient investment - both foreign and domestic - have prompted an increasing number of Iranians to seek employment overseas, resulting in significant "brain drain." | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001. The causes: slowdowns in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (20% of GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.3% of GWP); and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world. China, the second largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially announced as 7.3% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 5.2% growth, continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations were strong performers, in the 5% range of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Indonesia, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2001, see the individual country entries.) |
| Electricity - consumption | 136.2 billion kWh (2005) | - |
| Electricity - exports | 2.761 billion kWh (2005) | - |
| Electricity - imports | 2.074 billion kWh (2005) | - |
| Electricity - production | 170.4 billion kWh (2005) | - |
| Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m
highest point: Kuh-e Damavand 5,671 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
| Environment - current issues | air pollution, especially in urban areas, from vehicle emissions, refinery operations, and industrial effluents; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; oil pollution in the Persian Gulf; wetland losses from drought; soil degradation (salination); inadequate supplies of potable water; water pollution from raw sewage and industrial waste; urbanization | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation |
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| Ethnic groups | Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1% | - |
| Exchange rates | rials per US dollar - 9,407.5 (2007), 9,227.1 (2006), 8,964 (2005), 8,614 (2004), 8,193.9 (2003)
note: Iran has been using a managed floating exchange rate regime since unifying multiple exchange rates in March 2002 |
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| Executive branch | chief of state: Supreme Leader Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI (since 4 June 1989)
head of government: President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD (since 3 August 2005); First Vice President Parviz DAVUDI (since 11 September 2005) cabinet: Council of Ministers selected by the president with legislative approval; the Supreme Leader has some control over appointments to the more sensitive ministries note: also considered part of the Executive branch of government are three oversight bodies: 1) Assembly of Experts (Majles-Khebregan), a popularly elected body of 86 religious scholars constitutionally charged with determining the succession of the Supreme Leader (based on his qualifications in the field of jurisprudence and commitment to the principles of the revolution), reviewing his performance, and deposing him if deemed necessary; 2) Expediency Council or the Council for the Discernment of Expediency (Majma-e-Tashkise-Maslahat-e-Nezam), is a policy advisory and implementation board consisting of over 40 permanent members representing all major government factions and includes the heads of the three branches of government, and the clerical members of the Council of Guardians (see next); permanent members are appointed by the Supreme Leader for five-year terms; temporary members, including Cabinet members and Majles committee chairmen, are selected when issues under their jurisdiction come before the Expediency Council; the Expediency Council exerts supervisory authority over the executive, judicial, and legislative branches and resolves legislative issues on which the Majles and the Council of Guardians disagree and since 1989 has been used to advise national religious leaders on matters of national policy; in 2005 the Council's powers were expanded, at least on paper, to act as a supervisory body for the government; 3) Council of Guardians of the Constitution or Council of Guardians or Guardians Council (Shora-ye Negaban-e Qanun-e Assassi) is a 12-member board made up of six clerics chosen by the Supreme Leader and six jurists recommended by the judiciary (which is controlled by the Supreme Leader) and approved by the Majles from a list of candidates recommended by the judiciary (which in turn is controlled by the Supreme Leader) for six-year terms; this Council determines whether proposed legislation is both constitutional and faithful to Islamic law, vets candidates for suitability, and supervises national elections elections: Supreme Leader appointed for life by the Assembly of Experts; Assembly of Experts elected by popular vote for an eight-year term; last election held 15 December 2006 concurrently with municipal elections; Hojjat ol-Eslam Ali Akbar RAFSANJANI was elected Speaker in September 2007, following the July death of former Speaker Ayatollah Ali Akbar Meshkini-Qomi; president elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term and third nonconsecutive term); last held 17 June 2005 with a two-candidate runoff on 24 June 2005 (next presidential election slated for 2009) election results: Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD elected president; percent of vote - Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD 62%, Ali Akbar Hashemi-RAFSANJANI 36% |
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| Exports | 2.52 million bbl/day (2006 est.) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | petroleum 80%, chemical and petrochemical products, fruits and nuts, carpets | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
| Exports - partners | Japan 14%, China 12.8%, Turkey 7.2%, Italy 6.3%, South Korea 6%, Netherlands 4.6% (2006) | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
| Fiscal year | 21 March - 20 March | - |
| Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red; the national emblem (a stylized representation of the word Allah in the shape of a tulip, a symbol of martyrdom) in red is centered in the white band; ALLAH AKBAR (God is Great) in white Arabic script is repeated 11 times along the bottom edge of the green band and 11 times along the top edge of the red band | - |
| GDP | - | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $47 trillion (2001 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 11%
industry: 45.3% services: 43.7% (2007 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2001 est.) |
| GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $7,600 (2001 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 4.3% (2007 est.) | 2.2% (2001 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 32 00 N, 53 00 E | - |
| Geography - note | strategic location on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, which are vital maritime pathways for crude oil transport | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
| Heliports | 14 (2007) | - |
| Highways | - | total: NA km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 33.7% (1998) |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
| Illicit drugs | despite substantial interdiction efforts, Iran remains a key transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin to Europe; highest percentage of the population in the world using opiates; lacks anti-money-laundering laws | - |
| Imports | 153,600 bbl/day (2004) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | industrial raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods, foodstuffs and other consumer goods, technical services | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
| Imports - partners | Germany 12.2%, China 10.5%, UAE 9.3%, France 5.6%, Italy 5.4%, South Korea 5.4%, Russia 4.4% (2006) | in value, about 75% of imports into the developed countries |
| Independence | 1 April 1979 (Islamic Republic of Iran proclaimed) | - |
| Industrial production growth rate | 4.8% excluding oil (2007 est.) | 6% (2000 est.) |
| Industries | petroleum, petrochemicals, fertilizers, caustic soda, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production), ferrous and non-ferrous metal fabrication, armaments | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 38.12 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 38.29 deaths/1,000 live births female: 37.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
51.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 17% (July 2007 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2001 est.); national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries |
| International organization participation | ABEDA, CP, ECO, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, SAARC, SCO (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer) | - |
| Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 76,500 sq km (2003) | 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Judicial branch | The Supreme Court (Qeveh Qazaieh) and the four-member High Council of the Judiciary have a single head and overlapping responsibilities; together they supervise the enforcement of all laws and establish judicial and legal policies; lower courts include a special clerical court, a revolutionary court, and a special administrative court | - |
| Labor force | 28.7 million
note: shortage of skilled labor (2006 est.) |
NA |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 25%
industry: 31% services: 45% (June 2007) |
agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
| Land boundaries | total: 5,440 km
border countries: Afghanistan 936 km, Armenia 35 km, Azerbaijan-proper 432 km, Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave 179 km, Iraq 1,458 km, Pakistan 909 km, Turkey 499 km, Turkmenistan 992 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
| Land use | arable land: 9.78%
permanent crops: 1.29% other: 88.93% (2005) |
arable land: 10.58%
permanent crops: 1% other: 88.42% (1998 est.) |
| Languages | Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
| Legal system | based on Sharia law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
| Legislative branch | unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami or Majles (290 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 20 February 2004 with a runoff held 7 May 2004 (next to be held in March 2008) election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party - conservatives/Islamists 190, reformers 50, independents 45, religious minorities 5 |
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| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 70.56 years
male: 69.12 years female: 72.07 years (2007 est.) |
total population: 63.94 years
male: 62.28 years female: 65.67 years (2002 est.) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77% male: 83.5% female: 70.4% (2002 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77% male: 83% female: 71% (1995 est.) |
| Location | Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea, between Iraq and Pakistan | - |
| Map references | Middle East | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: bilateral agreements or median lines in the Persian Gulf continental shelf: natural prolongation |
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims: contiguous zone - 24 NM; continental shelf - 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation, or 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin; exclusive fishing zone - 200 NM; exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; territorial sea - 12 NM; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
| Merchant marine | total: 131 ships (1000 GRT or over) 4,721,202 GRT/8,309,580 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 35, cargo 45, chemical tanker 4, container 9, liquefied gas 1, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 29, roll on/roll off 4 foreign-owned: 1 (UAE 1) registered in other countries: 33 (Bolivia 1, Cyprus 2, Malta 24, Panama 4, St Kitts and Nevis 1, St Vincent and The Grenadines 1) (2007) |
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| Military branches | Islamic Republic of Iran Regular Forces (Artesh): Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force of the Military of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Niru-ye Hava'i-ye Artesh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran; includes air defense); Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami, IRGC): Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force, Qods Force (special operations), and Basij Force (Popular Mobilization Army); Law Enforcement Forces (2007) | - |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.5% (2006) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
| National holiday | Republic Day, 1 April (1979) | - |
| Nationality | noun: Iranian(s)
adjective: Iranian |
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| Natural hazards | periodic droughts, floods; dust storms, sandstorms; earthquakes | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
| Natural resources | petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
| Net migration rate | -4.29 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | - |
| Pipelines | condensate 7 km; condensate/gas 397 km; gas 19,161 km; liquid petroleum gas 570 km; oil 8,438 km; refined products 7,936 km (2007) | - |
| Political parties and leaders | formal political parties are a relatively new phenomenon in Iran and most conservatives still prefer to work through political pressure groups rather than parties, and often political parties or coalitions are formed prior to elections and disbanded soon thereafter; a loose pro-reform coalition called the 2nd Khordad Front, which includes political parties as well as less formal groups and organizations, achieved considerable success at elections to the sixth Majles in early 2000; groups in the coalition include: Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaran), Solidarity Party, Islamic Labor Party, Mardom Salari, Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO), and Militant Clerics Society (Ruhaniyun); the coalition participated in the seventh Majles elections in early 2004; following his defeat in the 2005 presidential elections, former MCS Secretary General and sixth Majles Speaker Mehdi KARUBI formed the National Trust Party; a new conservative group, Islamic Iran Developers Coalition (Abadgaran), took a leading position in the new Majles after winning a majority of the seats in February 2004; following the 2004 Majles elections, traditional and hardline conservatives have attempted to close ranks under the United Front of Principlists; the IIPF has repeatedly complained that the overwhelming majority of its candidates have been unfairly disqualified from the 2008 elections | - |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) was Iran's sole political party until its dissolution in 1987; Iran now has a variety of groups engaged in political activity; some are oriented along political lines or based on an identity group; others are more akin to professional political parties seeking members and recommending candidates for office; some are active participants in the Revolution's political life while others reject the state; political pressure groups conduct most of Iran's political activities; groups that generally support the Islamic Republic include Ansar-e Hizballah, Followers of the Line of the Imam and the Leader, Islamic Coalition Party (Motalefeh), Islamic Engineers Society, and Tehran Militant Clergy Association (Ruhaniyat); active pro-reform student groups include the Office of Strengthening Unity (OSU); opposition groups include Freedom Movement of Iran, the National Front, Marz-e Por Gohar, Baluchistan People's Party (BPP), and various ethnic and Monarchist organizations; armed political groups that have been repressed by the government include Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), Komala, Mujahidin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO), People's Fedayeen, Jundallah, and the People's Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) | - |
| Population | 65,397,521 (July 2007 est.) | 6,233,821,945 (July 2002 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | 18% (2007 est.) | - |
| Population growth rate | 0.663% (2007 est.) | 1.23% (2002 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | - | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 72, FM 5, shortwave 5 (1998) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
| Radios | - | NA |
| Railways | total: 8,367 km
broad gauge: 94 km 1.676-m gauge standard gauge: 8,273 km 1.435-m gauge (146 km electrified) (2006) |
total: 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line
broad gauge: 251,153 km standard gauge: 710,754 km narrow gauge: 239,430 km |
| Religions | Muslim 98% (Shi'a 89%, Sunni 9%), other (includes Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i) 2% | Christians 32.88% (of which Roman Catholics 17.39%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.54%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.54%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.6%, non-religious 12.63%, atheists 2.47% (2000 est.) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.054 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.024 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.945 male(s)/female total population: 1.026 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
| Suffrage | 16 years of age; universal | - |
| Telephone system | general assessment: currently being modernized and expanded with the goal of not only improving the efficiency and increasing the volume of the urban service but also bringing telephone service to several thousand villages, not presently connected
domestic: the addition of new fiber cables and modern switching and exchange systems installed by Iran's state-owned telecom company have improved and expanded the main line network greatly; main line availability has more than doubled to 22 million lines since 2000; additionally, mobile service has increased dramatically serving nearly 13.7 million subscribers in 2006 international: country code - 98; submarine fiber-optic cable to UAE with access to Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line runs from Azerbaijan through the northern portion of Iran to Turkmenistan with expansion to Georgia and Azerbaijan; HF radio and microwave radio relay to Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Kuwait, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; satellite earth stations - 9 Intelsat and 4 Inmarsat (2006) |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 21.981 million (2006) | NA |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 13.659 million (2006) | NA |
| Television broadcast stations | 28 (plus 450 repeaters) (1997) | NA |
| Terrain | rugged, mountainous rim; high, central basin with deserts, mountains; small, discontinuous plains along both coasts | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
| Total fertility rate | 1.71 children born/woman (2007 est.) | 2.7 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 11% according to the Iranian government (June 2007) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2001 est.) |
| Waterways | 850 km (on Karun River; additional service on Lake Urmia) (2006) | - |
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