Iran Environment - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

air pollution, especially in urban areas, from vehicle emissions, refinery operations, and industrial effluents; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; oil pollution in the Persian Gulf; wetland losses from drought; soil degradation (salination); inadequate supplies of potable water; water pollution from raw sewage and industrial waste; urbanization

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 35.09 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 661.71 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 158.71 megatons (2020 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 6.2 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 1.1 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 86 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

137.045 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Climate

mostly arid or semiarid, subtropical along Caspian coast

Land use

agricultural land: 30.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 10.8% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 1.2% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 18.1% (2018 est.)

forest: 6.8% (2018 est.)

other: 63.1% (2018 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.01% of GDP (2017 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0.01% of GDP (2017 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 76.3% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 1.32% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: intermediate (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea

vectorborne diseases: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever

note: a new coronavirus is causing sustained community spread of respiratory illness (COVID-19) in Iran; sustained community spread means that people have been infected with the virus, but how or where they became infected is not known, and the spread is ongoing; illness with this virus has ranged from mild to severe with fatalities reported; as of 20 July 2021, Iran has reported a total of 3,548,704 cases of COVID-19 or 4,225 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with 104.03 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 19 July 2021, 6.98% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 17.885 million tons (2017 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 894,250 tons (2017 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 5% (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Iran on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Iran 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Iran 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.