Iranian year begins from 21 March of each Christian year and ends on the 20th of the next year. To convert the Iranian year into Christian year please add 621 years to the reference year.

Land and Government

     Iran comprises a land area of over 1 . 6 million squar Km. It is located in south west of Asia and is one of the middle-east countries. Iran lies down the northern temperate zone, between latitudes 25 degree north and 39 degree 47' north and between longitude 44 degree 02' east and 63 degree 20' east.
     Iran is bounded by Turkmenistan , Caspian Sea , Azerbaijan, and Armenia on the North , Afghanistan and Pakistan on the East , Oman sea and persian gulf on the South , and Iraq and Turkey on the West . Totally Iran has a border of 8731 kms of which 2700 kms go for water borders and 6031 kms for land borders .

Iranian government system is Islamic republic and its national day is 12th Farvardin ( 1st April ). Tehran is the capital of Iran with a population of 6758845 , according to 1996 National Census of Population and Housing, also the most populated cities following Tehran are Mashhad , Esfahan , Tabriz as well as Shiraz each with a population of 1887405 , 1266072 ,1191043 and 1053025 respectively .
Administrative divisions of Iran at the end of 1381
Number of Ostans (provinces): 28
Number of Shahrestans (sub - provinces): 314
Number of Bakhshes (counties) : 842
Number of cities : 928
Number of Dehestans (rural agglomerations): 2350
Number of inhabited villages according to 1996 National Census of Population and Housing: 68122


Population and Manpower

    According to the 1375 Population and Housing Census (the latest census), total population of the country was 60055488 .The population density was 36 . 7  persons per square kilometer . Of the total population , 61 . 3  and 38 . 3  percents lived in urban and rural areas of whom 50 . 8  and 49 . 2  percents were males and females respectively . Distribution of age groups :

    According to the 1375 Population and Housing Census , economically - active population 10 years of age and over comprised 16027223 , of whom 90 . 9  and 9 . 1  percents were employed and unemployed respectively . Out of a non - economically active population of 28821959 , 43 . 8, 45 . 8  and 10 . 4  percents were schoolchildren , housewives and the retired as well as income recipients .



Agriculture

    According to the reports of the Ministry of Agriculture , the most important crops and animal products for crop year 1380-81 are as follows :
Crop production and animal products ( 1000 tons ) Wheat , 12450, barely , 3085 , rice , 2888 , meat , 770 , chicken , 792, eggs , 581 , milk , 5877 . The areas of forests and pastures in Iran have been 12 . 4 and 90 million hectares respectively in 1379.


Mining and Manufacturing

     The major industries include oil, gas , petrochemical , steel , textile , chemical , food , car manufacturing , electric and electronic equipment , etc .
The most important household , hand - made and traditional industries contain carpet , Gilim and Zilu , inlaid work and pottery . According to the 1375 Population and Housing Census , a population of about 4 . 5 million were engaged in different industries . In the year 1380 of 2886 operating mines , 2543 and 343 mines were run by private and public sectors respectively, excluding gravel and sand , decorative stones, and rubble stone mines.
The most important mines include coal , metallic minerals , sand and gravel , chemical minerals , salt , etc. Khorasan Ostan has the most operating mines .


Energy

     Iran is one of the worlds largest oil rich countries and has the second large gas reserves . At the end of 1381, the capacity of crude oil production was 1533 million barrels per year . Moreover , nine refineries are operating in the country . In the year 1381, gas production equaled 336 million cubic metre per day . Until the end of 1381, 529 cities either had been or were being supplied with piped gas . At the end of 1381, electricity production equaled 140675 thousand MW/h .Furthermore , 46000 villages have been supplied with electricity .


Trade

    The major export products such as mineral products , food products , carpet , pistachio , caviar , skin and leather , handicrafts , clothes etc . follow petroleum , gas, oil and petrochemical products exports .
At the end of 1381, value of non - oil products exports was 36373 billion rials . The major import items include base metals, vehicles, chemical products , heavy machineries , animal and vegetable fats, and plastics .
At the end of 1381, value of imports was 172894 billion rials .



Transportation and Communications

    In the year 1380, there were 80720 kilometres of roads , of which 717 , 25863 and 37363 kms were free way, main and asphalted side roads respectively.In the year 1381,the length of railways was 7265 kms, 14 .3  million passengers and 26000  tons of cargoes were transported by the Iranian railways network . In the year 1381 , more than 8384000 domestic passengers were transported through airlines . Moreover , more than 2 million passengers arrived in or departed from Iran . In addition, more than 53 airports were operating for transporting passengers in 1381. At the end of 1381 , about 14509016 telephone lines were installed . In the same year , 36020 villages were equipped with telephone facilities .


Education

    According to the 1375 Population and Housing Census , of 52294979 population 6 years of age and over , 4158231 persons were literate . Thus , the literacy rate was 75 . 5 percent . Of the total literate population ,54% and 46% were males and females respectively . In the academic year 1381-82 , number of students were 17196588 in the country .In the same year , 1673757 students were under education in higher education centres and Islamic Azad Universities, of which 435635, 428755 were females and males respectively . Also in 1381, 402871, 1148112, 66791, 45621 students were under education in A.A , B.A , M.A, and PHD respectively.


Health

    In the year 1381 , there were 730 operating hospitals with 110797 hospital beds . There were 4957, 3388 and 1826 operating urban and rural health and medical centres, and rehabilitation centres respectively in 1381 of which 1087 have been private . In the year 1381 , there have been 5955 independent pharmacies of which 349,5394, were affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and private respectively . In 1381 of the total 21496 employed physicians in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, more than 17,000,  1911, and 1083 have been working as general practitioner and specialist, dentist, and pharmacist respectively.


Culture and Tourism

    Iran is among the old civilizations in the world and for this reason and due to its variety of climates and a number of beautiful natural attractions , it is considered as one of the worlds most important tourism centres . Of the worlds places recognized and registered as "the worlds Civilization Heritage" by UNESCO , four are located in Iran :

Of the most important and famouse historical and attractive places in Iran :

   In addition , other attractive places in Iran include Bazaar-e-Tehran , Bagh-e-fin-e-Kashan, Borj-e-Toghrol in Shahr-e-Rey, Bagh-e-Eram in Shiraz, Bagh-e-Shazdeh in Mahan, Masjid-e-Vakil in Shiraz , Masjid Aqa bozorg in Kashan , Masjid-e-Goharshad in Mashhad, Arg-e-Karimkhan in Shiraz, Darvaz-e-Qoran in Shiraz, Kakh-e-Golestan in Tehran , Masjid-e-Amirchakhmagh in Yazd, Masjid-Imam Khomeini in Esfahan, etc .
The most important natural places in Iran :

    Moreover , foreign and Iranian tourists travel to different places of Iran and buy various goods as their travel souvenirs , and gifts for their relatives , mostly including saffron , caraway , cotton candy , Gaz (candy) , Suhan (candy), varieties of cookies and chocolates , herbs and plants waters , liquorice , pistachio , caviar, date , rose water , carpet , Gilim , Zilu , handicrafts , inlaid articles , mosaic works and miniature paintings , earthenware and glassware , turquoise , pearl , agate , leather commodities , clothes , etc .
There are many museums , exhibiting the world's and Iranian civilization , culture as well as history , the most important of which are as follows :

  In the year 1381, there were 268 operating cinemas , and in the same year 84 films were produced in Iran . In the year 1381 , there were 17809000 attendances of which 17479000 and 330000 were for Iranian and foreign films respectively.
In the year 1381, there were 1801 publications , and 34550 titles were published in the from of books and pamphlets. In the same year there were 1574 libraries affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.