Migration from cities to rural areas outweighed rural-to-urban migration from the Iranian years ending March 2018 to March 2020.
According to Alireza Zahedian, the head of the Centre of Statistics of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, the number of people moving from cities to rural areas stood at 49,853 in the year ending March 2018, 46,788 in the year ending March 2019 and 50,216 in the year ending March 2020.
“Urban-to-rural migration accounted for 65.4% of total migration in the year ending March 2020,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Residents of the capital city, Tehran, are increasingly migrating to suburban areas, according to Deputy Interior Minister Mehdi Jamalinejad.
"Unfortunately, we are suffering from the so-called 'metropolitan inundation syndrome' as a result of mass migrations from villages to cities, and from smaller cities to metropolises," he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
"These migrations reached a peak during 2001-11," he added.
Citing data gathered in the latest round of National Census in the fiscal 2016-17, the official said Tehran is experiencing reverse migration at present.
Zahedian noted that the cities of Karaj (capital of Alborz Province), Rasht (the capital of Gilan Province), Shiraz (the capital of Fars Province) and Qom (the capital of Qom Province) are currently hosting the largest numbers of incoming migrants inside Iran.
Tehran has faced many challenges in recent years, including pollution and traffic to name a few. Due to its political, economic, educational and other advantages, the capital city has always attracted the residents of other provinces.
Migration to Tehran to work, study or live temporarily or permanently has become a commonplace phenomenon over the years leading to a growth in the city's population while giving rise to a series of environmental issues in the process. 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 2011-12 and March 2016-17. The provinces of Alborz, Gilan and Mazandaran were the top destinations of migrants from Tehran.
A total of 516,922 people migrated to Tehran during the same period. A majority of migrants came from Alborz, Lorestan, Hamedan and Khorasan Razavi provinces.
Tehran's population density is at 969 per square kilometer, which is 20 times higher than the country’s 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 arriving in Tehran surpassed those who leave the city during the period under review, reverse migration is seemingly on the rise amid growing environmental problems and saturation of opportunities in the capital city.
In fact, air pollution and fear of earthquake have been cited as the main 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 indicates that 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 and the financial status of residents, including debt levels, physical and mental health.
In the factors assessed by 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 levels, 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 race equality.
A low score indicates a low level of stress, with each increasing number indicating a higher level of stress for the factor. A score of 1 represents the least amount of stress and 10 indicates the most.
