Shirvan County () is in North Khorasan province, Iran. Its capital is the city of

Shirvan Shirvan (from ; ; Tat: ''Şirvan'') is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, as known in both pre-Islamic Sasanian and Islamic times. Today, the region is an industrially and agriculturally developed part of the Republic of Azerbaijan ...

Demographics

Language and ethnicity

Kurmanji Kurmanji (, ), also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northernmost of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and the Caucasus and Khorasan regions. It is the ...

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

Khorasani Turks Khorasani Turks (; Khorasani Turkic: خوراسان تؤرکلری) are a Turkic ethnic group inhabiting part of North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan and Golestan provinces of Iran, as well as in the neighboring regions of Turkmenistan up to bey ...

, and Tats are the largest ethnic groups in the county. A small Jewish population was noted to be present also, numbering only five.

History

After the 2011 National Census, the village of

Ziarat Ziarat (Urdu and ) is a city in the Ziarat District of the Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan province in Pakistan. It lies away from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. Previously, it was part of Sibi district. It was announced as ...

was elevated to the status of a city, and the village of Yengi Qaleh-ye Bala became the city of Qushkhaneh. After the 2016 census, the village of Khan Laq was elevated to the status of a city.

Population

At the time of the 2006 census, the county's population was 152,493 in 37,647 households. The following census in 2011 counted 157,014 people in 43,009 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the county as 146,140 in 43,873 households.

Administrative divisions

Shirvan County's population history and administrative structure over three consecutive censuses are shown in the following table.

Geography

Location

Shirvan city, with an area of 3789 square kilometers, is bounded by

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

to the north,

Esfarayen Esfarayen () is a city in the Central District of Esfarayen County, North Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Ethnicity The majority of the population is Kurdish, with a significan ...

city to the south, Farooj county to the east and Bojnourd to the west. In the north of Shirvan, there is a city called Lujli. Shirvan is one of the high cities of North Khorasan province, which is located in the valley of the Atrak border river in the middle of Kopedagh and Aladagh mountains. Shirvan has a relatively cold climate in winter and a warm and temperate climate in summer.

Estarkhi waterfall

Estarkhi waterfall is one of the tallest waterfalls in Shirvan region. The length of this waterfall reaches 20 meters. This waterfall is located 40 km south of Shirvan city, on the northern slopes of Shah Jahan mountain range. On the way to reach this waterfall, Golian Cave is also one of the natural attractions of this region.

Notable people

Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli (; born 1959) is an Iranian conservative politician who serves as ambassador of Iran to China in Government of Masoud Pezeshkian since 21 May 2025. He was also Minister of Interior in Hassan Rouhani's government and the ...

, born 1959 in Shirvan; Interior Minister of President

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...

Notes

References

{{Shirvan County, state=collapsed Shirvan County Counties of North Khorasan province