This article is about the Mazandaran Province of Iran. For the historical region, see Tabaristan. For the region mentioned in Shahnameh, see Mazandaran (Shahnameh).
Mazandaran Province (Persian: استان مازندران; pronunciationⓘ)[a][b] is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari.[7] Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range, the province is in the central-northern part of the country. Mazandaran, founded in 1937, covers an area of 23,842 km2.[8][9]
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the province had a population of 2,893,087 in 783,169 households.[10] The following census in 2011 counted 3,073,943 people in 931,007 households.[11] At the most recent census in 2016, the population had risen to 3,283,582 in 1,084,798 households.[4] Mazandaran is one of the most densely populated provinces in Iran.[12]
The province has diverse natural resources, notably large reservoirs of oil and natural gas.[13] The diverse natural habitats of the province include plains, prairies, forests and rainforest[14] stretching from the sandy beaches of the Caspian Sea to the rugged and snowcapped Alborz sierra,[15] including Mount Damavand, one of the highest peaks and volcanoes in Asia.[16]
Mazandaran is a major producer of farmed fish,[17] and aquaculture provides an important economic addition to traditional dominance of agriculture.[18] Another important contributor to the economy is the tourism industry, as people from all of Iran enjoy visiting the area.[19] Mazandaran is also a fast-growing centre for biotechnology.[13]
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