Provinces of Iran

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Iran is subdivided into thirty ostanha (singular ostan: provinces), each governed from a local center, usually the largest local city. The provincial authority is headed by a governor (استاندار: ostāndār), who is appointed by the Minister of the Interior subject to approval of the cabinet. Until 1950, Iran was divided into twelve provinces: Ardelan, Azarbaijan, Baluchestan, Farsistan, Gilan, Irak Ajami, Khorasan, Khoristan, Kerman, Larestan, Lorestan, and Mazandaran. In 1950, Iran was reorganized to form ten numbered provinces with subordinate governorates: Gilan; Mazandaran; East Azarbaijan; West Azarbaijan; Kermanshah; Khuzestan; Fars; Kerman; Khorasan; Isfahan. From 1960 to 1981 the governorates were raised to provincial status one by one. Since then several new provinces have been created, most recently in 2004 when the province of Khorasan was split into three new provinces. The provinces are subdivided into 324 shahrestans.

The thirty provinces of Iran

No.	Province	Capital			Density (people/km²)	Shahrestans
1	TehranUntil 1986, Tehran was part of Markazi province.	Tehran	18,814	12,150,742	645.8	13
2	QomUntil 1995, Qom was a shahrestan of Tehran province.	Qom	11,526	1,064,456	92.4	1
3	MarkaziOriginally part of Mazandaran province.In 1986, some parts of Markazi province were transferred to Isfahan, Semnan, and Zanjan provinces.	Arak	29,130	1,361,394	46.7	10
4	QazvinOn 1996-12-31, the shahrestans of Qazvin and Takestan were separated from Zanjan province to form the province of Qazvin.	Qazvin	15,549	1,166,861	75.0	5
5	Gilan	Rasht	14,042	2,410,523	171.7	16
6	ArdabilUntil 1993, Ardabil was part of East Azarbaijan province.	Ardabil	17,800	1,257,624	70.7	9
7	ZanjanOriginally part of Gilan province.	Zanjan	21,773	970,946	44.6	7
8	East Azarbaijan	Tabriz	45,650	3,500,183	76.7	19
9	West Azarbaijan	UrmiaUntil 1979, the city was known as Rezaiyeh.	37,437	2,949,426	78.8	14
10	Kurdistan	Sanandaj	29,137	1,574,118	54.0	9
11	Hamedan/HamadanOriginally part of Kermanshah province.	Hamedan/Hamadan	19,368	1,738,772	89.8	8
12	KermanshahBetween 1979 and 1995 Kermanshah province and its capital, were both known as Bakhtaran.	Kermanshah	24,998	1,938,060	77.5	13
13	Ilam	Ilam	20,133	545,093	27.1	7
14	LorestanOriginally part of Khuzestan province.	Khorramabad	28,294	1,758,628	62.2	9
15	Khuzestan	Ahvaz	64,055	4,345,607	67.8	18
16	Chahar Mahaal and BakhtiariOriginally part of Isfahan province.	Shahr-e-Kord	16,332	842,002	51.6	6
17	Kohkiluyeh and Buyer AhmadYasuj	15,504	695,099	44.8	5
18	BushehrOriginally part of Fars province. Until 1977, the province was known as Khalij-e Fars (Persian Gulf).	Bushehr	22,743	816,115	35.9	9
19	Fars	Shiraz	122,608	4,385,869	35.8	23
20	HormozganOriginally part of Kerman province. Until 1977, the province was known as Banader va Jazayer-e Bahr-e Oman (Ports and Islands of the Sea of Oman).Hormozgan includes several islands such as Qeshm, Lavan, Kish and Hormoz as well as Abu Musa island which is jointly administered by Iran and the United Arab Emirates.	Bandar Abbas	70,669	1,314,667	18.6	11
21	Sistan and BaluchistanUntil 1986, the province was known as Baluchestan and Sistan.	Zahedan	181,785	2,290,076	12.6	8
22	Kerman	Kerman	180,836	2,432,927	13.5	14
23	YazdIn 1986, part of Kerman province was transferred to Yazd province. In 2002, Tabas shahrestan (area: 55,344 km²) was transferred from Khorasan province to Yazd.	Yazd	129,285	958,318	7.4	10
24	Isfahan	Isfahan	107,029	4,454,595	41.6	21
25	Semnan	Semnan	97,491	589,512	6.0	4
26	Mazandaran	Sari	23,701	2,818,831	118.9	15
27	GolestanOn 1997-05-31, the shahrestans of Aliabad, Gonbad-e-kavus, Gorgan, Kordkuy, Minudasht, and Torkaman were separated from Mazandaran province to form Golestan province.	Gorgan	20,195	1,637,063	81.1	11
28	North KhorasanOn 2004-09-29, Khorasan was divided into three provinces. North Khorasan; Razavi Khorasan; South Khorasan.	Bojnourd	28,434	786,918	27.7	6
29	Razavi Khorasan	Mashhad	144,681	5,202,770	36.0	19
30	South Khorasan	Birjand	69,555	510,218	7.3	4
	Iran	Tehran	68,467,413	1,628,554	42.0	324

See also

• List of current Iranian provincial governors

References and notes