Greater Tehran is the

urban agglomeration An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

around

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

that covers the central part of the Tehran Province and eastern part of the Alborz Province, that covers the contiguous cities of Tehran, Ray, Shemirānāt, and other areas. As of 2012, Greater Tehran had a population of close to 14 million residents. The 2016 census had the population at 13.3 million in Tehran Province (only 200 thousands of them outside Tehran and the suburban counties) and 2.2 million in

Karaj Karaj ( fa, کرج, ) is the capital of Alborz Province, Iran, and effectively a satellite city of Tehran. Although the county hosts a population around 1.97 million, as recorded in the 2016 census, most of the county is rugged mountain. The urb ...

and

Fardis Fardis ( Persian: فردیس) is a city in Alborz Province, Iran. Gallery 2nd square of Fardis.jpg, Second square of main blvd. of Fardis See also * Karaj References * Malard Malard ( fa, ملارد, also Romanized as Malārd and Mel� ...

combined. So it can be estimated that the population of the urban agglomeration was about 15 million people in 2016, and it is sinking 25 cm per year because of the accelerated influx and the overuse of natural resources. Since the 1960s, much of Greater Tehran's growth has been caused by an influx of urban poor into informal settlements on the fringe.Zebardast, E. (2006). Marginalization of the urban poor and the expansion of the spontaneous settlements on the Tehran metropolitan fringe. Cities, 23(6), 439-454. Greater Tehran should not be confused with the following: * Tehran Province (area 18,814 km², population 13.27 m – 2016). Part of the province is too far from Tehran and has too low a population density to be classified as the part of agglomeration *

Tehran County Tehran County ( fa, شهرستان تهران) is located in Tehran province, Iran. The capital of the county is Tehran. At the 2006 census, the county's population (including those portions of the county later split off to form Pardis County ...

(area 1,300 km², population 8.85 million (2016) with 97.5% of the population living in Tehran City itself) * Tehran City includes 22 districts, two of them fully and one partially are located outside of Tehran County. The city's area is about 730 km². The extension of the city to other counties began in 1973 to include the villages surrounding the city of Tajrish (Evin, Darakeh, Niyavaran, Rostan Abad, Gholhak, Zargandeh, Elahiyeh, Davoudiyeh, and Zarrabkhaneh) and the cities of

Vanak Vanak () is a neighbourhood in the northern part of Tehran, capital of Iran and there is a square and a street named after it. The word Vanak means "Small (ash) Tree" in Persian. The name derives from the original older village of Vanak (''Deh-e ...

and Rey to which “Kooye Siman” had been annexed during the years 1956 to 1966.

Geographys

There is no exact definition of Tehran agglomeration borders and composition. Beside

, also

Shemiranat County Shemiranat County ( fa, شهرستان شمیرانات) is located in Tehran province, Iran. The capital of the county is Shemiran, which is part of the city of Tehran. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 37,778, in 11,178 househol ...

, Ray County,

Eslamshahr County Eslamshahr County ( fa, شهرستان اسلام‌شهر) is located in Tehran province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq ...

, Pakdasht County, Robat-Karim County, Varamin County, Shahriar County, Qods County, Malard County, Pishva County, and Baharestan County in Tehran Province and also

Karaj County Karaj County ( fa, شهرستان کرج) is located in Alborz province, Iran. The capital of the county is Karaj. At the 2006 census, at which time it was a county in Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Pro ...

and probably even Nazarabad County and Savojbolagh County in Alborz Province can be regarded as parts of the agglomeration.

References

Geography of Tehran Tehran {{tehran-geo-stub