That statistic is from the latest census that was taken last year. The Statistical Center of Iran released its major findings Sunday on its official website, www.amar.org.ir.
The census also shows that Iran is one of the most solidly Muslim countries in the world with fewer than 6/10ths of 1 percent of the public not reporting that they are Muslim.
The Iranian Jewish community has almost ceased to exist. It numbered somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 after World War Ii when Israel was founded and still numbered an estimated 80,000 at the time of the revolution. The Jewish community has estimated its size at around 25,000 to 27,000 in recent years. But the census found a mere 8,756 Jews left in the country last year.
The Zoroastrian population, estimated at about 100,000 at the time of the revolution is now recorded at only 25,271 by the census.
The Christian population is also down since the revolution—but surprisingly it has grown substantially over the last 15 years. Here are the numbers from the last five censuses:
1976 168,593
1986 97,557
1996 78,745
2006 109,415
2011 117,704
How much of the Christian growth stems from births and how much from conversions was not a subject for the census, but the government has made clear its concern over conversions from Islam to Christianity.
The census also said 49,101 people reported belonging to some “other” religious faith and that 265,899 people gave no faith at all. Those figures might represent Baha’is, as the census does not recognize Baha’is, who are estimated to total 300,000 to 350,000 in Iran by the international Baha’I community.
The total population, as previously announced, was 75.2 million, which includes 1.5 million Afghans, 51,500 Iraqis, 17,700 Pakistanis and 1,600 Turks.
The population of metropolitan Tehran—the municipality and its surrounding towns—came to 12.2 million, meaning that 16.2 percent or one of every six Iranians lives in the capital region, a heavy concentration that the revolutionary government pledged to reverse but never succeeded in doing so.
The literacy rate for those aged between 10 and 49 was put at 93 percent. The under 10 cohort is normally excluded from literacy counts. But Iran’s unique exclusion of the those 50 and older suggests the regime has given up on trying to teach the older population to read.
The population remains young with 55 percent of Iranians under age 30 and thus born after the revolution. But the youth population used to be higher. The falling birth rate is leading to an aging population. (See accompanying article on birth control.)
Iran’s population has more than doubled since the revolution, surging from 33.7 million in the 1976 census to the 75.2 million now.
