Ethnic groups in Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a multiethnic state with many languages and ethnicities .
history
Iran's mediating position between Central Asia , Asia Minor , Arabia and the Indian subcontinent has resulted in a high level of ethnic diversity. Indo-European groups presumably immigrated from the north into the Iranian highlands and reached the Zagros at the beginning of the first millennium BC. The Medes were the first Iranian people who could establish a stable empire on Iranian territory. After the Arab conquest of Iran, Arabs settled all over the country and mingled with the local population; many Iranian families can prove their Arab origin by their names. In the 11th century, Turkish tribes began to immigrate to what is now Iran in ever new waves. With their nomadic way of life, they shaped large areas of Iran up to the beginning of the 20th century; in the end they settled mainly in the north-west of the country, where the climate is most suitable for nomadic cattle breeding.
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples now dominate the country numerically. Between 38 and 65% of the population are Persians ; the Iranian highlands are almost exclusively inhabited by Persians. They are not only the largest, but also the politically and historically most important group. In addition to Persians, there are other Persian-speaking peoples such as Bakhtiars or Hazara , but also people who speak other languages (e.g. Larestani ), but still often refer to themselves as Persians . That is why there are no exact figures on how many Persians live in Iran. Most of the Persians are Shiite.
To the west of the Persian settlement area live Kurds , who make up 6 to 10% of the total population, speak a language related to Persian and mostly follow Sunni Islam, and the predominantly Shiite Lurs (6% of the population of Iran) who speak Luri , a Persian dialect cluster . In the east of Iran live the Sunni Baluch , who make up 2% of the population and, like the Kurds, are striving for independence.
In the Elburz Mountains and the Caspian Sea Caspian nations as live Mazanderani people , gilaks , Talischen and Tati.
Other Iranian peoples are Pashtuns, who make up a good 2.7% and some immigrated from Afghanistan , Parsis who belong to Zoroastrianism or Raji.
Turkic peoples
Peoples of Turkish descent are mainly the mostly Shiite Azerbaijanis ( Azeri ), who make up about 20% of the population of Iran and live in the northwest of the country. The mostly Sunni Turkmens inhabit the northern steppe areas, and there are also numerous islands of Turkish ethnic groups scattered across the country, to which the Kashgai and Afshars belong. Smaller, partly immigrated Turkic peoples also live in Iran. B. Kazakhs , Uzbeks and Turkomans .
Other peoples
The Arabs of Iran live in the southwest on the border with Iraq ; they make up about 2 to 3% of the total population. There are also a large number of very small ethnic groups living in Iran, some of which settled in Iran before the arrival of the Persians (like the Assyrians ) or came into the country in several waves, some centuries ago (like the Armenians or Georgians ).
According to information from the World Jewish Congress, up to 20,000 Jews will be living in Iran in 2020, according to other sources, the figure is only 9,000. Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 it was up to 100,000. Many fled because of the regime's anti-Semitic policies.
The number of other religious minorities (e.g. Christians , Baha'i , Yazidis ) has also decreased as a result.
There are also around 820,000 Roma in Iran, for which there are no precise figures. After Turkey , India and Romania , Iran has the most Roma. In addition to Roma, there are nearly 150,000 other people who speak an Indo-Aryan language (e.g. Urdu , Gujarati ).
Number base
The available figures on the ethnic composition of the Iranian population vary greatly because the Iranian state does not determine and publish any data. Last but not least, the mixed marriages, which are now normal, lead to a certain blurring of ethnic boundaries. It can be assumed that the linguistic assignment to the original ethnic groups is not always possible, as large parts of the minorities are now assimilated to the Persian majority culture, especially linguistically.
According to some statistics only 38% are Persians , in some statistics it is 65%. There is the same confusion with other languages and ethnic groups. This is because Mazanderani people , Gilanker and Luren are sometimes counted with the Persians. One can only guess at nomadic peoples like Qashqai or Roma , as they are often not sedentary. In addition, smaller, unknown peoples (e.g. Vafsi, Takestani ...) are often not counted or added to similarly speaking peoples (Afshar Azerbaijanis). In the table below you can see all races with more than 10,000 people in Iran.
table
The data in the table are from the University of Québec .
| Ethnicity | Number (absolute) | Share of the Iranian population | language | Language family | religion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persians (West Persians ) | 30 236 000 | 38.5% | Iranian Persian (Farsi) | Iranian | Shiite Islam (majority) |
| Azerbaijanis (Azeri) | 15,375,000 | 19.5% | South Azerbaijani | Turkic languages | Shiite Islam |
| Kurds | 5 061 000 | 6.8% |
Kurdish ( Kurmanji , Sorani , Zaza , Gorani , Herki, Faili ...) |
Iranian | Sunni Islam (majority) |
| Masanderans | 4,246,000 | 5.4% | Masanderan | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Gilaki | 4,244,000 | 5.4% | Gilaki | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Lurs | 2,714,000 | 3.4% |
Lurian (1,757,000 North Lurian, 957,000 South Lurian) |
Iranian |
Ahl-e Haqq (Islamic secession) or Shiite Islam |
| Turkmen | 2,448,000 | 3.1% | Turkmen | Turkic languages | Sunni Islam |
| Pashtuns | 2,197,000 | 2.7% | Pashtun | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Qashqai (Kashgai) | 1,836,000 | 2.3% |
Qashqai ( South Azerbaijani ) |
Turkic languages | Shiite Islam |
| Arabs | 1,710,000 | 2.1% |
Arabic (Mesopotamian or Gulf) |
Semitic ( Afro-Asian ) |
Shiite or Sunni Islam (depending on the region) |
| Baluch | 1,178,000 | 1.4% | Baluchish | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Bakhtiars | 1,171,000 | 1.4% | Bakhtiari | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Sheets | 1,161,000 | 1.4% | Leki | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Turkish Khorasans | 886,000 | 1.1% | khorasan | Turkic languages | Shiite Islam |
|
Sinti and Roma (mostly Domari , but also Balkan Roma) |
819,000 | 1.0% | 785,000 Domari , 34,000 Romani |
Indo-Aryan | Sunni Islam |
| Takestani | 374,000 | 0.4% | Takestani | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
|
Tajiks (East Persians) (partly from Afghanistan) |
454,000 | 0.5% | Dari-Persian | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Hazara | 368,000 | 0.4% | Hazaragi Persian | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Afshars | 355,000 | 0.4% | South Azerbaijan | Turkic languages | Shiite Islam |
|
Aïmaken (partly from Afghanistan ) |
221,000 | 0.3% | Aimaki Persian | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Shahsavani | 159,000 | 0.2% | South Azerbaijani | Turkic languages | Shiite Islam |
| Talisch | 146,000 | 0.2% | Talish | Iranian | Shiite Islam (majority) |
| Mamasani | 118,000 | 0.1% | Lurian (south) | Iranian | Shiite Islam (majority) |
| Larestani | 112,000 | 0.1% | Lari (Larestani) | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Assyrians | 103,000 | 0.1% | New Aramaic |
Semitic ( Afro-Asian ) |
Christianity ( oriental churches ) |
| Armenians | 102,000 | 0.1% | Armenian | Isolated Indo-European language |
Christianity ( Armenian Orthodox ) |
| Muhajir | 84,000 | 0.1% | Urdu | Indo-Aryan | Sunni Islam |
| Semnani | 65,000 | 0.0% | semnani | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Georgians | 62,000 | 0.0% | Georgian | Caucasian | Orthodox Christianity |
| Turk Khalaj | 51,000 | 0.0% | Turk-Khalai | Turkic languages | Sunni Islam |
| Caracalpaks | 51,000 | 0.0% | Karakalpak | Turkic languages | Shiite Islam |
| Khalajs | 50,000 | 0.0% | Khalai | Turkic languages | Shiite Islam |
| Sangisari | 40,000 | 0.0% | Sangisari | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Punjabis | 34,000 | 0.0% | Punjabi | Indo-Aryan | Hinduism and Sunni Islam |
| Gujarati | 34,000 | 0.0% | Gujarati | Indo-Aryan | Hinduism |
| Harzani | 33,000 | 0.0% | harzani | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Shikaki | 27,000 | 0.0% | Shikal | Iranian | Sunni Islam |
| Parsing | 26,000 | 0.0% | Persian or Gujarati | Iranian | Zoroastrianism (Parsism) |
| Astiani | 25,000 | 0.0% | Astiani | Iranian | Islam (?) |
| Khunsari | 25,000 | 0.0% | khunsari | Iranian | Islam (?) |
| Brahui | 22,000 | 0.0% | Brahui | Dravidian | Sunni Islam |
| Karingani | 21,000 | 0.0% | karingani | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Vafsi | 21,000 | 0.0% | Vafsi | Iranian | Shiite Islam |
| Korean | 17,000 | 0.0% | Korean | Korean (isolated) | Buddhism |
| Dari gabri | 14,000 | 0.0% | Dari-Gabriella ( Persian , but has nothing to do with Dari-Persian ) | Iranian | Zoroastrianism |
| Kazakhs | 15,000 | 0.0% | Kazakh | Turkic languages | Sunni Islam |
| Sorkhei | 11,000 | 0.0% | Sorkhei | Iranian | Islam (?) |
|
Turks (from Turkey ) |
11,000 | 0.0% | Turkish | Turkic languages | Sunni Islam |
| Jadgali | 10,000 | 0.0% | Jadgali | Indo-Aryan | Hinduism |
| Jews | 9826 | 0.0% | Judaeo-Persian and others | Iranian or Semitic | Judaism |
| Others (partly foreigners) |
414 600 | 0.5% | - | - | - |
| Total (2014) | 78 468 600 | 100.0% |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Monika Gronke: History of Iran, From Islamization to the Present. 3rd edition, CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-48021-8 , p. 39f.
- ^ Emran Feroz: Balochistan: Conflict apart from the media. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d Jacques Leclerc: L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde - Iran. Université Laval Québec (accessed November 30, 2019, French)
- ↑ The Religious Minorities of Iran. In: International Society for Human Rights (ISHR). Retrieved on May 27, 2020 (German).
- ↑ Israel demands the deletion of Khamenei's Twitter account. In: International Society for Human Rights (ISHR). Retrieved on May 27, 2020 (German).
- ↑ The Religious Minorities of Iran. In: International Society for Human Rights (ISHR). Retrieved on May 27, 2020 (German).