45,000,000 in Iran (2011), increasing. 800,000 Eastern Farsi in Khorasan speak dialects which are transitional with Iranian Persian. Population total all countries: 47,408,100.
Widespread. Most concentrated in central, south central, and northeast.
1 (National). Statutory national language (1979, Constitution, Article 15).
Abadani, Araki, Bandari, Basseri, Esfahani, Kashani, Kermani, Ketabi, Mahalhamadani, Mashadi (Meshed), Old Shirazi, Qazvini, Sedehi, Shahrudi Kazeruni, Shirazi, Shirazjahromi, Tehrani, Yazdi. Literary language virtually identical in Iran and Afghanistan, with very minor lexical differences. Dialect shading into Dari [prs] in Afghanistan and Tajiki [tgk] in Tajikistan. Many dialects may be separate languages. A member of macrolanguage Persian [fas].
Arabic script [Arab].
Muslim (Shi’a), Baha’i, Christian.