Monthly Archives: December 2009

1985 2009 Tehran, Iran’s capital, ranks among the world’s fast-growing cities. In the early 1940s, Tehran’s population was about 700,000. By 1966, it had risen to 3 million, and by 1986—during the Iran-Iraq war—migrants brought the population to 6 million. Today, the metropolitan area has more than 10 million residents, more than the sum of the country’s next five major metropolitan areas combined. This explosive growth has environmental and public health consequences, including air and water pollution and the loss of arable land.