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Iran
PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES
Iran has a heterogeneous population speaking a variety of Indo-Iranian,
Semitic, and Turkic languages. The largest language group consists
of the speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, who in 1986 comprised
about 70 percent of the population. The speakers of Indo-Iranian
languages are not, however, a homogeneous group. They include
speakers of Persian, the official language of the country, and
its various dialects; speakers of Kirmanji, the term for related
dialects spoken by the Kurds who live in the cities, towns, and
villages of western Iran and adjacent areas of Iraq and Turkey;
speakers of Luri, the language of the Bakhtiaris and Lurs who
live in the Zagros; and Baluchi, the language of the seminomadic
people who live in southeastern Iran and adjacent areas of Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Approximately 28 percent of the population speaks
various dialects of Turkish. Speakers of Semitic languages include
Arabs and Assyrians .
Data as of December 1987
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