The number of internal migrants in Iran stood at 711,154 in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2019), of whom 588,312 moved from an urban area to another and 122,841 were rural-rural migrants.
The main reasons behind the migration of this population include accompanying their family (52.8%), searching for a job (10%) and searching for a better job (6.5%), the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare’s Statistics and Strategic Data Center reported.
In urban areas, prime reasons for internal migration included accompanying the family (53.9%), searching for a job (10.1%) and searching for a better job (6.4%), whereas in rural areas accompanying the family (47.8%), military service (13.5%) and searching for a job (9.1%) were the predominant reasons.
Of last year’s migrant population, a total of 302,817 or 42.6% were economically active, of whom 234,064 or 77.3% were employed and 68,753 or 22.7% were unemployed.
The chief reasons behind the migration of the employed population were searching for a job, accompanying the family and searching for a better job. Graduation, education and military service were the least-cited reasons behind the migration of employed population.
The foremost reasons behind the migration of jobless population last year were completing military service, accompanying the family and searching for a job. Job transfer, military service and education were the least-cited reasons behind the migration of unemployed population.
Reverse Migration From Tehran
Tehran has faced many challenges in recent years, including pollution and traffic to name a few. Due to its political, economic and educational advantages, the capital city has always attracted Iranians from other provinces.
Migration to Tehran for working, studying, or living temporarily or permanently has become a commonplace phenomenon over the years leading to a rise in the city's population while exacerbating a series of environmental issues. However, statistics show the parallel case of reverse migration, i.e. from Tehran to other provinces.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the findings of the National Population and Housing Census in the fiscal 2016-17 show a total of 350,632 people migrated from Tehran to other provinces between March 2011-16. The provinces of Alborz, Gilan and Mazandaran were the top destinations of migrants from Tehran.
Meanwhile, 516,922 people migrated to Tehran during the same period. A majority of the migrants came from Alborz, Lorestan, Hamedan and Khorasan Razavi provinces.
Tehran's population density is 969 per square kilometer, which is 20 times higher than the national average. With a population of about 13.26 million people (up from 8.15 million registered in the previous census conducted in 2011-12), the capital city has a 16.5% share in Iran’s total population.
The city is home to 41.9% of the country’s urban population, according to the latest census.
Although the number of people coming to Tehran surpassed those who leave the city during the period under review, reverse migration is seemingly on the rise amid growing environmental problems in the capital city and saturation of opportunities there.
In fact, air pollution and fear of earthquake have been cited as major reasons for people wanting to leave Tehran.
A paper submitted to the International Conference on Urban Economy held in 2016 by Iran Urban Economics Scientific Association suggests the population of Tehran has long surpassed its optimal city size. It indicated that more than 70% of Tehran’s population have exceeded the optimum level. In other words, Tehran can only provide 2.38 million of its citizens with favorable living conditions.
A study by UK-based Zipjet Company ranked Tehran as the sixth most stressful city among 150 cities surveyed in relation to traffic levels, public transport, green spaces, financial status of residents, including debt levels, physical and mental health.
In the factors assessed by the Zipjet, Tehran received a score of 8.67 in population density, 9.21 in green spaces (percentage of public green spaces inside the city limits), 6.62 in satisfaction with public transport, 8.55 in traffic congestion, 9.4 in perception of security (weighted average rate of theft and murders ), 8.25 in annual mean air pollution, 4.5 in noise pollution, 6.98 in light pollution, 8.55 in unemployment rate, 7.52 in debt per capita, 1.30 in social security, 7.77 in family purchasing power, 6.07 in mental health, 7.95 in physical health, 9.76 in gender equality and 9.1 in racial equality.
A low score indicates low level of stress, with each increasing number indicating a higher stress level. A score of 1 represents the least amount of stress possible and 10 indicate the most.
Inflow Continues to Outpace Outflow
The growing number of educated as well as jobless people coming to Tehran in the hope of finding work is overcrowding the capital city. This is while the city lacks proper infrastructure to host the growing number of its population.
Findings of the latest census show population growth in Tehran is mainly driven by a large influx of migrants, rather than a natural increase in population, i.e. the difference between birth and death rates.
Tehran’s migrant population has increased to 20.2% of the country’s total number of immigrants from 17.7% in the fiscal 2011-12.
According to the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, migrants constitute as much as 88% of the rise in Tehran’s population (1.084 million) over the past five years. Migrant population saw a 15% decline in the country to stand at 4.7 million from 5.53 million five years ago. However, the rate of migrant population decline in Tehran was about 3% over the past five years. This has led to an 8% rise in Tehran’s population compared to the country’s average population growth of 6%.
