71.4 percent of Iranians live in cities

TEHRAN, July 25 (MNA) – New census data reveals that Iran’s population has more than doubled since 1976 and that 71.4 percent of Iranians now live in cities. Tehran, with a population of 12 million, is the most crowded province of the country, while Ilam is the most sparsely populated province, with a population of 557,599. The population jumped from 33.7 million people in 1976 to 75.1 million people in 2011, according to 2011 National Population and Housing Census of Iran. According to the census data, men constitute 50.4 percent of the country’s population, and women account for 49.6 percent. Also revealed in the data is the fact that there are 1.6 million empty homes in the country. The population of Christians has risen from 109,000 in 2006 to 117,000 in 2011, while the number of Jews has decreased since 2006.