Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

On the heels of my posts 21 Must-Know Facts about Israel, & 20 Must-Know Facts about Gaza Strip + Map.

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at Iran as I continue on my journey to investigate the countries on this list of countries in Asia.

So, what do we know about Iran?

1. Iran has about 66 million people equal to the population of California + Texas and Tennessee. It’s number 18 on the list of countries in the world by population between Turkey and France. Two-thirds of all Iranians are under the age of 25.

2. Iran is # 18 in size of countries between Libya and Mongolia and equal to the size of Alaska. Or equal to Texas + New Mexico + Oklahoma + Kansas + Colorado.

3. Iran‘s neighbors are Afghanistan 936 km, Armenia 35 km, Azerbaijan-proper 432 km, Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave 179 km, Iraq 1,458 km, Pakistan 909 km, Turkey 499 km, Turkmenistan 992 km. (1.62Km = 1 mile).

4. Iran was formerly known as Persia.

5. Iran‘s history dates back to 4000BC.

6. Iran is second in the world in natural gas AND oil reserves. It is OPEC’s second largest oil exporter.

7. Iran‘s second largest export commodity are carpets. (the flying kind?)

8. Iran is one of 8 countries that begins with the letter “I”. Can you name the other seven? Answer at the bottom.

9. Iran is made up of Persians (51%), Azeris (24%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (8%), Kurds (7%), Arabs (3%), Baluchi (2%), Lurs (2%), Turkmens (2%), Laks, Qashqai, Armenians, Persian Jews, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, Tats, Mandaeans, Gypsies, Brahuis, Hazara, Kazakhs and others (1%).

10.  Almost nine in 10 Iranians belong to the Twelver Shi’a branch of Islam. Eight percent are Sunni.

11. Iran suffers from air pollution, deforestation, overgrazing, oil pollution in the Persian Gulf, drought, soil degradation and water pollution from raw sewage.

12. Three of four Iranians over 15 can read and write.

13. Unemployment in Iran is about 12%.

14. IIran‘s top export partners are – China 15%, Japan 14.3%, Turkey 7.4%, South Korea 7.3%, Italy 6.4%.

15. Iran‘s top import partners are – China 14.2%, Germany 9.6%, UAE 9.1%, South Korea 6.3%, Russia 5.7%, Italy 5%.

16. There is one telephone for every three Iranians and one mobile phone for every two. One in three Iranians is online.

17. Iran has 331 airports. Six are international.

18. Iran is on the soon-to-be ex-president’s ‘dirt’ list – the axis of evil.

19. There are at three Iranian English Dailies –

• Tehran Times – English-language daily, published by state-run body
• Iran Daily – English-language, published by official news agency IRNA
• Iran News – English-language

20.  Before traveling to Iran – travel to http:www.travel.state.gov, Worldwide Caution, Travel Alerts and Travel Warnings.

Please be sure to Sign my Iran Guestbook and sign my Asia guestbook, too.

You might also be interested in:

21 Must Know Facts about India + Map

Answer to #8 – India, Iraq, Iceland, Ireland, Indonesia, Italy, Israel, …and Iran.

source, source, source, source, source, and source

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.