Iran
Tehran · Western Asia
Iran is a country in Asia. Its capital city is Tehran, the official currency is the Iranian Rial, and the main language is Persian.
With a population of roughly 89.2 million people spread over 1,648,195 km², Iran is the 17th most populous country in the world and the 17th largest by area. That works out at about 54 people per square kilometre.
Iran shares land borders with Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq — 7 neighbours in all. Its largest urban centres are Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan. The highest point in the country is Mount Damavand, at 5,610 metres.
For scale, it covers almost exactly the same area as Mongolia, while its population is closest to that of Turkey.
- Capital
- Tehran
- Region
- Western Asia
- Population
- 89,200,000
- Area
- 1,648,195 km²
- Currency
- Iranian Rial
- Main language
- Persian
- Highest point
- Mount Damavand
5,610 m - Land borders
- 7
Iran: things worth knowing
- Damavand is the highest volcano in Asia and the highest peak in the Middle East.
- Iran's qanats, underground channels that carry water across desert, have been in use for nearly 3,000 years.
- Persian is an Indo-European language, unlike Arabic, which belongs to the Semitic family.
Iran in context
Asia has 48 sovereign countries in total. Iran ranks 9th among them by population.
See the full list of Asia countries, or browse all 195 countries.