Editing Demographics of Iran (section)

==Languages and ethnic groups==
[[File:Iran ethnoreligious distribution 2004.jpg|thumb|500px|Colour-coded map of Iran's ethnic groups. The centre of the country is mostly [[Persian people|Persians]]; [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijanis]], [[Gilaks]], [[Kurds]], and [[Talysh people|Talysh]] are in the northwest; [[Lurs]], [[Qashqai people|Qashqai]] and [[Arabs]] in the southwest; [[Turkmen people|Turkmens]] and more Kurds in the northeast; [[Baloch people|Balochis]] in the southeast.]]
{{Main article|Iranian peoples|Turkic people|Ethnic minorities in Iran|Languages of Iran|Ethnicities in Iran}}

The largest linguistic group comprises speakers of Iranian languages, like modern [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], [[Gilaki language|Gilaki]], [[Mazanderani language|Mazandarani]], [[Luri language|Luri]], [[Talysh language|Talysh]], and [[Balochi language|Balochi]]. Speakers of [[Turkic languages]], most notably [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijanis]], which is by far the second-most spoken language in the country, but also the [[Turkmen people|Turkmen]], and the [[Qashqai people|Qashqai]] peoples, comprise a substantial minority. The remainder are primarily speakers of [[Semitic languages]] such as [[Arabs of Khuzestan|Arabic]] and [[Assyrians in Iran|Assyrian]]. A small number of [[Mandaeans]] in [[Khuzestan province|Khuzestan]] speak [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]]. There are small groups using other [[Indo-European languages]] such as [[Armenian language|Armenian]] and [[Russian language|Russian]]; also, [[Georgian language|Georgian]] (a member of the [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]] language family) is spoken in a large pocket only by those [[Iranian Georgians]] that live in [[Fereydan]], [[Fereydunshahr]]. Most of those Georgians who live in the north Iranian provinces of [[Gilan]], [[Mazandaran]], [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], [[Tehran province]] and the rest of Iran no longer speak the language.
The [[Circassians in Iran]], a very large minority in the past and speakers of the [[Circassian language]], have been strongly assimilated and absorbed within the population in the past few centuries. However, significant pockets do exist spread over the country, and they are the second-largest [[Caucasus]]-derived group in the nation after the Georgians.<ref name="FdyRswC p 141">[https://books.google.com/books?id=stl97FdyRswC&dq=number+of+circassians+in+iran&pg=PA141 ''Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614155901/https://books.google.nl/books?id=stl97FdyRswC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=number+of+circassians+in+iran&source=bl&ots=u_SmExfuC8&sig=2lK8k9IsUQZyjCtdKqIAIr6Rc5M&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBDgKahUKEwins7Whz4vGAhVRCNsKHb9pAME#v=onepage&q=number%20of%20circassians%20in%20iran&f=false |date=14 June 2015 }} Facts on File, Incorporated {{ISBN|143812676X}} p 141</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/118238/Circassian|title=Circassian (people)|access-date=28 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407230314/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/118238/Circassian|archive-date=7 April 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[History of the Jews in Iran|Jews]] have had a continuous presence in Iran since the time of [[Cyrus the Great]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. In 1948, there were approximately 140,000–150,000 Jews living in Iran. According to the Tehran Jewish Committee, the Jewish population of Iran was (more recently) estimated at 25,000 to 35,000, of which approximately 15,000 are in Tehran with the rest residing in Hamadan, Shiraz, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Yazd, Kerman, Rafsanjan, Borujerd, Sanandaj, Tabriz and Urmia. However, the official 2011 state census recorded only 8,756 Jews in Iran.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-woman-brutally-murdered-in-iran-over-property-dispute/|title=Jewish woman brutally murdered in Iran over property dispute|newspaper=The Times of Israel|date=28 November 2012|access-date=16 August 2014|quote="A government census published earlier this year indicated there were a mere 8,756 Jews left in Iran"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819102713/http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-woman-brutally-murdered-in-iran-over-property-dispute/#ixzz3Ac6duaqw|archive-date=19 August 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="188px">
File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (1982-1989).png
File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (1990-1993).png
File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (1994-2011).png
File:Percentage of ethnic groups in the general population of Iran (2012-2014).png
</gallery>
The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] [[The World Factbook|World Factbook]] (which is based on 2013 statistics) gives the following numbers for the languages spoken in Iran today: [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Luri language|Luri]], [[Gilaki language|Gilaki]] and [[Mazandarani language|Mazandarani]] 66%; [[Azerbaijani language|Turkish]] and other [[Turkic languages]] 18%; [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]] 10%; [[Arabic]] 2%; [[Balochi language|Balochi]] 2%; others 2% ([[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Circassian language|Circassian]], [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic|Assyrian]], etc.).<ref name="worldfactbook">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iran/ |title=The World Factbook – Iran |access-date=13 May 2013 }}</ref>

According to anthropologist [[Brian Spooner (anthropologist)|Brian Spooner]], around half of Iran's population uses a language other than Persian at home and in informal public situations.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004217652_005 |chapter=Persian, Farsi, Dari, Tajiki: Language Names and Language Policies |title=Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors |date=2012 |last1=Spooner |first1=Brian |pages=89–117 |isbn=978-90-04-21765-2 |author1-link=Brian Spooner (anthropologist) }}</ref>

Other sources, such as the [[Library of Congress]], and the [[Encyclopedia of Islam]] (Leiden)<ref>See Iran in Encyclopedia of Islam, Leiden. C.E. Bosworth (editor)</ref> give Iran's ethnic groups as following: [[Persian people|Persians]] 65%, [[Azerbaijanis|Azerbaijani Turks]] 16%, [[Kurds]] 7%, [[Lurs]] 6%, [[Arabs]] 2%, [[Baloch people|Baloch]] 2%, [[Turkmens]] 1%, Turkic tribal groups (e.g. [[Qashqai people|Qashqai]]) 1%, and non-Persian, non-Turkic groups (e.g. [[Armenians]], [[Georgians]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Circassians]]) less than 1%.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/cs/profiles/Iran.pdf |title=Country Profile: Iran |last1=Curtis |first1=Glenn E. |last2=Hooglund |first2=Eric |date=May 2008 |website=Library of Congress – Federal Research Division |page=5 |access-date=2 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927105102/http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/cs/profiles/Iran.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> For sources prior to and after 2000, see [[Languages and ethnicities in Iran]].