↑ National portal for electronic services of İran: Ethnic Groups: Iran's population is made up of numerous ethnic groups. Persians migrated to the region from Central Asia beginning in the 7th century BC and established the first Persian empire in 550 BC. They are the largest ethnic group, and include such groups as the Gilaki, who live in Gilan Province, and the Mazandarani, who live in Mazandaran Province. Accounting for about 60 percent of the total population, Persians live in cities throughout the country, as well as in the villages of central and eastern Iran.Two groups closely related to the Persians both ethnically and linguistically are the Kurds and the Lurs. The Kurds, who make up about 7 percent of the population, reside primarily in the Zagros Mountains near the borders with Iraq and Turkey.The Lurs account for 2 percent of the population; they inhabit the central Zagros region. Turkic tribes began migrating into northwestern Iran in the 11th century, gradually changing the ethnic composition of the region so that by the late 20th century East Azerbaijan Province was more than 90 percent Turkish. Since the early 1900s, Azeris (a Turkic group) have been migrating to most large cities in Iran, especially Tehran. Azeris and other Turkic peoples together account for about 25 percent of Iran's inhabitants. The remainder of the population comprises small communities of Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Baluchis.
↑ Federation of American Scientists:...Population: 70.5 million (2007 est.)Persians, who constitute 51% of Iran’s population, dominate the central government of Iran.Roughly one out of every four Iranians is Azeri, making it Iran’s largest ethnic minority at over 18 million (some Azeris put the number higher). TheTurkic-speaking Azeri community is predominantly Shiite and resides mainly in northwest Iran along the border with Azerbaijan (whose inhabitants are more secular than their Azeri cousins in Iran) and in Tehran. Although they have grievances withthe current regime in Tehran, most Azeris say they are not treated as second-class citizens and are more integrated into Iranian society, business, and politics (the Supreme Leader is an ethnic Azeri) than other minorities. Predominantly Sunni Muslim, the Kurds reside mainly in the northwest part of the country (so-called Iranian Kurdistan) and comprise around 7% of Iran’spopulation. There are roughly 4 million Kurds living in Iran, compared to 12 million in Turkey and 6 million in Iraq. Unlike Iran’s other minorities, many of its Kurds harbor separatist tendencies. Along the Iranian-Iraqi border in southwest Iran is a population of some three million Arabs, predominantly Shiite. Arabs, whose presence in Iran stretches back12 centuries, co-mingle freely with the local populations of Turks and Persians. Iran has roughly 1.4 million Baluchis, comprising 2% of its population. Predominantly Sunni, they reside in the Iranian section of an area known as Baluchistan, a region divided between Pakistan and Iran.
