Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0177/01776.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 40KB | 667 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01776}
$Pretitle{268}
$Title{Iran
Front Matter}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Helen Chapin Metz}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{iran
war
percent
iran's
iranian
islamic
khomeini
government
oil
revolutionary}
$Date{1987}
$Log{Global Map*0177601.scf
}
Country:     Iran
Book:        Iran, A Country Study
Author:      Helen Chapin Metz
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1987

Front Matter

Preface

     Like its predecessor, this study is an attempt to treat in a concise and
objective manner the dominant social, political, economic, and military
aspects of contemporary Iranian society. Sources of information included
scholarly journals and monographs, official reports of governments and
international organizations, foreign and domestic newspapers, and numerous
periodicals. Relatively up-to-date statistical data in the economic and social
fields were unfortunately unavailable, even from the United Nations and the
World Bank. Although the Introduction mentions events as late as mid-May 1988,
the cut-off date for research for this volume was December 31, 1987. It should
be noted that Houman Sadri wrote the section on the Iran-Iraq War in chapter
5, and that Joseph A. Kechichian wrote the remainder of that chapter. Chapter
bibliographies appear at the end of the book; brief comments on some of the
more valuable sources suggested as possible further reading appear at the end
of each chapter. Measurements are given in the metric system; a conversion
table is provided to assist those readers who are unfamiliar with metric
measurements (see table 1, Appendix).

     The transliteration of Persian words and phrases posed a particular
problem, and Dr. Eric Hooglund was most helpful in resolving these
difficulties. For words that are of direct Arabic origin--such as Muhammad
(the Prophet), Muslim, and Quran--the authors followed a modified version of
the system for Arabic adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names
and the Permanent Committee on Geographic Names for British Official Use,
known as the BGN/PCGN system. (The modification is a significant one,
entailing the deletion of all diacritical marks and hyphens.) The BGN/PCGN
system was also used to transliterate Persian words, again without the
diacritics. In some instances, however, place-names were so well known by
another spelling that to have used the BGN/PCGN system might have caused
confusion. For example, the reader will find Basra for the city rather than Al
Basrah.

     An effort has been made to limit the use of foreign words and phrases.
Those deemed essential to an understanding of the society have been briefly
defined at the place where they first appear in a chapter or are explained in
the Glossary.

Country Profile

[See Global Map: Map of Iran on the Globe]

Country

Formal Name: Islamic Republic of Iran.

Short Form: Iran.

Term for Citizens: Iranian.

Capital: Tehran.

Geography

Size: Land area of about 1,648,000 square kilometers; sovereignty claimed over
territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles.

Topography: Large Central Plateau surrounded on three sides by rugged
mountain ranges. Highest peak Mount Damavand, approximately 5,600 meters;
Caspian Sea about 27 meters below sea level.

Society

Population: Preliminary results of October 1986 census listed total population
as 48,181,463, including approximately 2.6 million refugees from Afghanistan
and Iraq. Population grew at rate of 3.6 percent per annum between 1976 and
1986. Government figures showed 50 percent of population under fifteen years
of age in 1986.

Education: School system consists of five years of primary (begun at seven
years of age), three years of middle school, and four years of high school
education. High school has three cycles: academic, science and mathematics,
and vocational technical. Government announced 11.5 million students in above
school system in academic year 1986-87; percentage of school age population in
school not published. Postrevolution decrease in university enrollments,
particularly percentage of women students, which declined from 40 percent in
prerevolutionary period to 10 percent in 1984. Number of students abroad also
declined.

Health: Iranian Medical Association reported 12,300 doctors in 1986; 38,000
additional doctors needed to provide population with minimally adequate health
care. Most medical personnel located in large cities. High infant mortality
rate. Gastrointestinal, parasitic, and respiratory diseases other chief causes
of mortality.

Languages: Persian official language and native tongue of over half the
population. Spoken as a second language by majority of the remainder. Other
Indo-European languages, such as Kirmanji (the collective term in Iran for the
dialects spoken by Kurds), as well as Turkic languages and Arabic also
important.

Religion: Shia Islam official religion with at least 90 percent adherence.
Also approximately 8 percent Sunni Muslims and smaller numbers of Bahais,
Armenian and Assyrian Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.

Economy

Gross Domestic Product: About US $168 billion in 1985, US $165 billion in 1986,
and US $176 billion (estimated) in 1987 (figure given at official rate;
unofficial rate as much as 10 times higher for United States dollar value of
rial). Percentage of GDP growth 1.5 percent (real) in 1985 and 10 percent
(estimated) in 1986. Inflation rate estimated at 20 percent in 1985, 30
percent in 1986, and 35 percent in 1987. Figures must be regarded with caution
as official sources seriously underestimate rate of inflation and currency
depreciation.

Gross National Product: 1986 estimate US $82.4 billion.

Industry: Oil major industry. In 1986 oil production averaged 1.9 million
barrels per day; in January 1987 crude oil production averaged 2.2 million
barrels per day, of which exports averaged between 1.5 million and 1.7 million
barrels per day. Reported reserves of 48.5 billion barrels in 1986 ranked Iran
fourth behind Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, and Kuwait. Damage to Iranian oil
installations during 1986-87 reduced oil production and exports substantially.
Natural gas reserves claimed by government to be 13.8 trillion cubic meters in
1987. Oil and gas produced estimated 8 percent of GDP in FY 1986-87. Non-oil
industry mainly agricultural products, carpets, textiles, and war-related
manufacturing such as munitions. Industry employed approximately 31 percent of
work force in 1987. Manufacturing and mining produced estimated 23 percent of
GDP in FY 1986-87. Services produced estimated 48 percent of GDP in FY
1986-87.

Agriculture: Accounted for estimated 21 percent of GDP in FY 1986- 87 and
employed approximately 38 percent of work force. Despite regime efforts to
promote self-sufficiency, Iran more dependent on agricultural imports in 1987
than in 1970s. Lack of progress resulted from unresolved land reform issues,
poor cultivation practices, lack of farm labor because of military service,
and migration to cities.

Imports: In 1983-84 about US $18.1 billion. Principal imports: road vehicles
and machines (35 percent), manufactures and iron and steel (29 percent), and
food and live animals (13 percent).

Exports: In 1985 about US $13.4 billion, of which all but about US $270
million from oil and gas. Oil exports in FY 1986-87 estimated between US $10.5
billion and US $11.5 billion; about US $900 million non-oil exports.

Major Trade Areas: In 1985 about 16 percent of imports from Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany), 13 percent from Japan, 7 percent from
Britain, and 6 percent each from Italy and Turkey. In 1985 about 16 percent of
exports to Japan and 9 percent each to Italy and Turkey.

Transportation and Communications

Roads: In 1984 a total of 136,381 kilometers of roads, of which 41 percent
paved; of paved roads 16,551 kilometers of main roads and 34,838 kilometers of
secondary roads.

Railroads: About 4,700 kilometers of railroads in 1987, including newly
electrified track in north between Tabriz a