Cultural Demography
Most Iranians are thought to be of Aryan ancestry, descended from Asiatic peoples who migrated to the area in the first millennium before the common era, or B.C.E. These Aryan groups, who make up the majority of Iran's population today, include Persians, Kurds, Lurs, Baloks, Gilakis and Mazandaranis. Over time, Turks, Mongols and Arabs added to the population. The most substantial minority group in Iran is made up of people with origins in Azerbaijan.
Aryan peoples originate from the Indo-European ethnic and linguistic group. They are believed to be the ancestors of the people of present-day Europe, India and Iran. Their language was closely related to the ancient Indian language, Sanskrit, which was derived from the Indo-European family of languages. The official language of Iran today, Persian (also known as Farsi), is also a derivative of the Indo-European linguistic family. Persian and Persian dialects are the major lingua francas of contemporary Iran. In additio n, Kurdish, Luri, Balok, Turkish, Arabic and Azeri are also spoken.
Islam has been the predominant religion in Iran since the arrival of Muslim Arabs 1,400 years ago. The extensive legacy of Islam extends to contemporary Iran, which was officially designated as a theocratic Islamic republic as a result of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Most Iranians belong to the orthodox Shiite sect of Islam, while about 10 percent of the Muslim population belongs to the Sunni sect. In addition, there are Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian and Baha'i minorities. Under fundamentalist Islamic state rule, however, these minorities have often been victims of persecution.
Human Development
In terms of health and welfare, Iran's infant mortality rate is 36.93 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth for the total population is 70.86 years of age ( 69.39 years for males and 72.4 years for females). According to recent estimates, the population growth was estimated at .66 percent, and the fertility rate at 1.77 children per woman. The literacy rate for the total population is estimated to be 77 percent. By gender, literacy rates for males range around 83.5 percent, and literacy rates for females range around 70.4 percent.
About 3.9 percent of GDP in this country is spent on health expenditures; about 4.7 percent of GDP in this country is spent on education. Access to water and sanitation in this country is regarded to be generally good, although there may be some obstacles in rural areas.
One notable indicator used to measure a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which is compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Iran in the high human development category at 70th place.
Note: Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in c ertain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief, www.countrywatch.com. See Bibliography for list of general research sources.