Middle East–N. Africa
Iran
Capital: Tehran
- 90MPopulation
- 89MMuslim
- 99%Muslim share
- $4,700GDP per person
- 9%Unemployment
- 15%In poverty
- 89%Literacy
- 74Life expectancy
- System
- Islamic republic
- In power
- Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; President Masoud Pezeshkian
- Currency
- rial
- In the UN since
- 1,945
Life today
World-class art cinema, football obsession, poets on every wall — amid sanctions and emigration of the educated.
Word on the street
Instagram and Telegram through filters and VPNs; Snapp is the ride of choice.
Names the world knows
- Shirin Ebadi Nobel laureate
- Asghar Farhadi Oscar director
- Ali Daei footballer
- Omar Khayyam poet-scientist
Did you know?
Persian is written in Arabic script but belongs to a different language family.