KHORRAMABAD

ii. Population, 1956-2011

This article deals with the following population characteristics of Khorramabad city: population growth from 1956 to 2011, age structure, average household size, literacy rate, and economic activity status for 2006 and/or 2011 (different dates for the categories are determined by the availability of census data).

Population growth. Khorramabad has experienced a high rate of population growth, increasing ninefold during 1956-2011, increasing ninefold from a population of 38,676 in 1956 to 348,216 in 2011. During the period 1956-76, the average annual growth rate was 5.12 percent, with the population growing from 38,676 to 104,912 people. From 1976 to 1986, the population growth rate of Khorramabad reached the value of 7.11 percent per year as the population almost doubled to 208,592 people. Since Khorramabad was one of the safer cities in the country during the Iran-Iraq War (see IRAQ vii), this increase may be attributed to war-related population movements. As the war came to an end (i.e., after the cease-fire of 1988) the population growth rate for Khorramabad dropped to 3.63 percent per year between 1986 and 1991 and to 1.82 percent per year between 1991 and 1996. The population of Khorramabad reached 249,258 in 1991 and 272,815 in 1996. Since then, the annual population growth rate for Khorramabad, after an increase to 2.04 percent between 1996 and 2006, has continued to decrease, falling to 0.84 percent increase between 2006 and 2011, as the population grew from 272,815 in 1996 to 333,945 in 2006 and to 348,212 in 2011 (Table 1).

Age structure. The population of Khorramabad can still be considered as young.  In 2011 almost 73.7 percent of the population were in the activity ages of 15 to 64; another 21.4 percent were below 15 years of age, and only 4.9 percent were 65 and over, which is slightly younger than age structure for urban areas of the country as a whole. The age structure in 2006 was even slightly younger than that of 2011 (Table 2).

Average household size. In 2006, the average household size in the city of Khorramabad was 4.4 persons per household (National Census, 2006; SCI, 2010, p. 83), which was significantly higher than the average of 3.89 for urban areas as a whole (SCI, 2009b, p. 50). In 2011 the average size declined to 3.68 persons per household (SCI, 2014), still higher than the average size of 3.48 for the urban areas as a whole (SCI, 2014).

Literacy rate. In 2006, almost 88.4 percent of the populations of Khorramabad six years of age and over were literate. The literacy ratio was significantly higher for males (91.8 percent) than for females (84.9 percent; SCI, 2010, Table 4, p. 151). Comparison to urban areas in general, either for both sexes (88.9 percent) or for each sex (92.2 percent for male and 85.6 percent for female; SCI, 2009b, pp. 223, 225, 227), suggests almost the same literacy rate as that in Khorramabad.

Economic activity status. In 2006, almost 86.02 percent of the population of Khorramabad or 287,287 people, were in the activity ages (i.e., 10 years of age and over), of whom 39.8 percent were economically active and 59.4 percent inactive, while the status of the rest (0.8 percent) was unknown (SCI, 2010, p. 188). The activity ratio in Khorramabad is slightly higher than the national average ratio for cities (38.8 percent, SCI, 2009b, p. 35). Employment and unemployment ratio of the active population in Khorramabad is estimated at 71.11 percent and 28.89 percent (i.e., of 37.5 percent of the total population). These figures indicate that the ratio of employment in Khorramabad is significantly lower than that in urban areas of the country as a whole (with 88.2 percent employed and 11.8 percent unemployed; Table 3).

Bibliography (for cited works not given in detail, see Short Titles):

National Census for Khorramabad Sub-province, 1956, 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006, and 2011.

SCI (Statistical Center of Iran [Markaz-e āmār-e Irān]), Tawziʿ wa ṭabaqa-bandi-e jamʿiyat-e šahrhā-ye kešvar dar saršomārihā-ye 1335-75 [years 1956-196], wa taṭbiq-e tawziʿ-e joḡrāfiāʾi-e jamʿiyat-e ostānhā 1382 [year 2003], Tehran, 2003.

Idem, Natāyej-e saršomāri-e ʿomumi-e nofus va maskan-e 1385 [year 2006], jamʿiyat-e šahrhā-ye kešvar bar ḥasab-e sen va jens, koll-e kešvar III, Tehran, 2009a.

Idem, Saršomari-e ʿomumi-e nofus va maskan-e 1385 [year 2006], natāyej-e tafṣili, koll-e kešvar I, part 1, Tehran, 2009b.

Idem, Gozida-ye namāgarhā-ye jamʿiyati-e šahrhā-ye kešvar bar asās-e natāyej-e saršomāri-e ʿomumi-e nofus va maskan-e 1385 [year 2006], Tehran, 2010.

Idem, “2011 Census Selected Results—UNFPA Iran,” electronically published, 2014; available at http://iran.unfpa.org/view_news.asp?id=248 (accessed 15 June 2015).