The primary language spoken in Iran is Persian, also known as Farsi, which is the official language of the country and is used for all government communications and schooling
. Persian belongs to the Indo-European language family and is spoken as a native language by about 53% of the population
. In addition to Persian, Iran is linguistically diverse with several other languages spoken by different ethnic groups:
- Turkic languages and dialects, including Azerbaijani, are spoken by around 18% of the population, mainly in the northwest region known as Iranian Azerbaijan
- Kurdish is spoken by about 10% of the population, primarily in the west
- Other significant languages include Gilaki and Mazandarani (7%), Luri (6%), Arabic (2%), and Balochi (2%)
- Minority languages such as Armenian, Georgian, Assyrian, Circassian, and Hebrew are also spoken by smaller communities
While Persian is the lingua franca and the language of official and educational use, many Iranians are bilingual or multilingual, often speaking their ethnic language alongside Persian
. In summary, Persian (Farsi) is the official and most widely spoken language in Iran, with several other regional and minority languages also present due to the country's ethnic diversity
