Iran At A Glance

Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, country in southwestern Asia, located on the eastern shore of the Persian Gulf with an area of 1,648,195 square kilometers, Iran lies at the eastern most edge of the geographic and cultural region known as the Middle East and it is the second largest country in this area. The country is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea, and Turkmenistan; on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan; on the south by the Gulf of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Persian Gulf; and on the west by Iraq and Turkey. It is divided into 28 provinces and has 241 towns and cities. Iran’s capital and largest city is Tehran, located in the northern part of the country.

The country's population, while technically and linguistically diverse, is almost entirely Muslim. For centuries, the region has been the center of the Shia branch of Islam.

Nearly all of Iran's numerous rivers are relatively short, shallow streams unsuitable for navigation. The country's only navigable river, the Karun, flows through the city of Ahvaz in the southwest.

More than half of Iran's international border of 4,430 km (2,750 mi) is coastline, including 740 km (460 mi) along the Caspian Sea in the north and 1,700 km (1,100 mi) along the Persian Gulf and adjacent Gulf of Oman in the south. Both the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf have important ports and contain extensive underwater deposits of oil and natural gas. Iran's largest harbor, Bandar-e 'Abbas, is located on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage separating the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Iran's extensive petroleum and natural gas deposits are located primarily in the southwestern province of Khuzestan and in the Persian Gulf. Iran also has one of the world's largest reserves of copper; deposits are located throughout the country, but the major lode lies in the central region between the cities of Yazd and Kerman. This region also serves as a center for the mining of bauxite, coal, iron ore, lead, and zinc. Additional coal mines operate throughout the Elburz Mountains; iron ore mines also exist near Zanjan in the northwest, near Mashhad in the northeast, and on Hormuz Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also has valuable deposits of aluminum, chromite, gold, manganese, silver, tin, and tungsten, as well as various gemstones, such as amber, agate, lapislazuli, and turquoise.

Despite the great climatic variety of Iran , its average annual precipitation is about 250-300 millimeters. On this account, Iran is ranked among the semi _ arid countries of the world. However with the great efforts made by Iranian experts to construct dams and to domesticate wastewater within the past two decades, it is hoped that the problem of water shortage will be solved in a not so remote future. It is worth mentioning that only a quarter of Iran’s area is endowed with fertile lands and mild, favorable climate. Small as may seem this figure in comparison with the whole surface area, it represents an area larger than Germany, Belgium and Netherlands grouped together.

The population of Iran was estimated at 66,128,965 in 2001, 36.8 million live in urban, and the rest in rural areas. This figure is more than double the 1975 population of 33,379,000. 44 percent of the population was under age 15, 53 percent was between 15 and 64, and only 4 percent was aged 65 or older. Overall population density in 2001 was 40 persons per sq km (104 per sq mi).

Although agriculture historically was the most important sector of Iran's economy, its share of the gross domestic product (GDP) has been declining since the 1930s due to the rise of manufacturing. Meanwhile, the mining sector, which is dominated by the production of oil, has grown rapidly since Iran nationalized its oil fields in the 1950s. Factory manufacturing has experienced periods of both rapid growth and stagnation. In the mid-1990s the service sector contributed the largest percentage of the GDP, followed by industry (mining and manufacturing) and agriculture. About 60 percent of the government's budget came from oil and natural gas revenues, and 40 percent came from taxes and fees. Government spending contributed to average annual inflation rates exceeding 20 percent. In 1999 the GDP was estimated at $111 billion, or $1,760 per capita. Because of these figures and the country's diversified but small industrial base, the United Nations classifies Iran's economy as semi-developed. Government planning plays an important role in Iran's economy.

In the 1990s the Iranian government sought to privatize state industries to stimulate the ailing economy. In 1991 about 45 percent of large industry was government-owned. The majority of heavy industry—including steel, petrochemicals, copper, automobiles, and machine tools—was in the public sector, while most light industry was privately owned. That year the government announced plans to privatize 400 state-run factories; however, the actual sale of these companies proceeded slowly. A five-year development plan for the period from March 1995 to March 2000 calls for the creation of 2 million new jobs, primarily through stimulation of the private sector, especially industry

In 1999 Iran's labor force was estimated at 19.3 million, of which women accounted for 27 percent Unemployment stood at about 10 percent for the labor force as a whole, although the unemployment rate for women and men aged 16 to 25 exceeded 20 percent. The agriculture and service sectors employed the greatest number of workers.

Iran's agricultural sector contributed 21 percent of the GDP in 1999 and employed 23 percent (1996) of the labor force. Since 1979 commercial farming has replaced subsistence farming as the dominant mode of agricultural production. Some northern and western areas support rain-fed agriculture, while other areas require irrigation for successful crop production. Wheat, rice, and barley are the country's major crops. Total wheat and rice production fails to meet domestic food requirements, however, making substantial imports necessary. Other principal crops include potatoes, legumes (beans and lentils), vegetables, fruits, fodder plants (alfalfa and clover), oil seeds, nuts (pistachios, almonds, and walnuts), cotton, sugarcane, sugar beets, herbs, spices (including cumin, sumac, and saffron), tea, and tobacco. Honey is collected from beehives, and silk is harvested from silkworm cocoons. Livestock products include lamb, beef, goat meat, poultry, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, wool, and leather. Major agricultural exports include fresh and dried fruits, nuts, animal hides, processed foods, and spices.

In 1997, the Gross Domestic Product amounted to Rails 234.000 billion and the value added of industrial and mining sectors totaled Rails 48,957 billion, of which 15.8 % was represented by food, pharmaceutical and hygienic industries.

In the same year, Iran’s total exports (whether oil or non_oil commodities) amounted to over USD 18 billion of which USD 1.7 billion was dedicated to the exportation of industrial products. The share of food, pharmaceutical and hygienic products to the total exports of industrial products represented 14%.

On the basis of FOB prices, the value of imported products amounted to about USD 15 billion. The currency balance of the country, based on the values of exports and imports, amounts to about USD3 billion. Currently there are over 5700 manufacturing units with about 202000 people engaged in the food, pharmaceutical and hygienic sectors of industry. The above manufacturing units represent over Rls 5700 billion in capital investment. The strategic products of these sectors of industry are vegetable oil (900,000), sugar (781,000), milk and dairy products (794,000), beverage (182,000 million crates), laundry powder (240,000), soap (6,000) and various types of drugs (14.6 billion pieces).

The main export products of these sectors include pasta, biscuits, confectionery, tomato paste, juice (natural as well as concentrated), laundry powder, soap and various detergents. At present 25 manufacturing units within these sectors of industry have been granted the 1SO 9000 certificates.