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Where Is Farsi (Persian) Spoken? + How Many People Speak It

Wondering where Farsi is spoken?

This post will cover which countries speak Farsi and how many people around the world speak Farsi (also known as Persian).

Farsi and Persian are the same language. ‘Persian’ is the English word for the language whereas ‘Farsi’ is the name for the language in Persian.

What Countries Speak Farsi?

Yazd, Iran

Farsi, also known as Persian, is an official language in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. 

There are 3 main dialects of the language, Iranian Persian, Dari and Tajiki.

These dialects are mutually intelligible to a high degree which means that speakers of one dialect can easily understand another dialect.

What Dialect Of Farsi Is Spoken In Iran?

  • The dialect spoken in Iran is Iranian Persian.
  • This variety of Farsi is also spoken by minority populations in Iraq.

What Dialect Of Farsi Is Spoken In Afghanistan?

  • The Farsi dialect that is spoken in Afghanistan is Persian Dari, also sometimes known as Afghan Persian.
  • Pashto is also an official language in Afghanistan however Dari is the preferred language for government and official purposes.

What Dialect Of Farsi Is Spoken In Tajikistan?

  • The Farsi dialect that is spoken in Tajikistan is called Tajiki Persian or Tajik.
  • This variety of Farsi is more different to the other Farsi dialects as it contains a lot of Russian influence due to Tajikistan’s Soviet past.
  • When Tajikistan was part of the Soviet Union from 1920 to 1991, the country had minimal contact with other Farsi speaking countries. 
  • Tajiki Persian is different to other Farsi dialects as it is written using the cyrillic script (like Russian) and also contains lots of Russian words.
  • The Persian script is used to write Iranian Persian and Dari, this script was developed from the Arabic script.
  • Several million native Tajiki Persian speakers also live in the neighbouring countries of Uzbekistan and Russia.

Other Speakers Of Farsi

There are fairly large minority populations of people who speak Farsi in other countries.

These include Uzbekistan, Iraq, Russia, Turkey, UAE and the USA amongst others.

These populations tend to consist of people who have emigrated from Iran, Afghanistan or Tajikistan to other countries.

There are several other local dialects of Farsi such as Hazaragi (Afghanistan), Herati (Afghanistan), Darwazi (Afghanistan & Tajikistan) and Basseri (Iran).

How Many People Speak Farsi?

Man in Afghanistan

The Persian language of Farsi is alive and well and is spoken by approximately 110 million people around the world today. 

Around 70 million people around the world are native speakers of Farsi, the other 40 million know Farsi as a second language.

Farsi Speakers By Country

  • In Iran, there are approximately 50 million native speakers and 70 million overall speakers of Farsi.
  • In Afghanistan, there are approximately 16.6 million native speakers and 30 million overall speakers of Farsi.
  • In Tajikistan, there are approximately 6.3 million native speakers and 9.3 million overall speakers of Farsi.

Is Farsi An Endangered Language?

If you were wondering if Persian/Farsi is a dead language then you can be assured that it is far from being an endangered language with over 110 million speakers around the world.

The majority of Farsi speakers live in Iran and the population of Iran has grown by over 18 million people in the last 20 years. This means that speakers of Farsi will have grown at a similar rate.

Similarly, the population of Afghanistan has grown by over 17 million people and in Tajikistan the population has grown by over 3 million in the last 20 years. 

This shows that Farsi isn’t a dying language, but a growing language.

Want to Learn Farsi?

The best way to start learning Farsi is by learning the most common 100 words.

This will give you a huge head start! You’ll be able to start understanding some Farsi almost instantly!

If you are thinking about learning Farsi then why not read our post on how hard it is to learn Farsi or get started now by learning how to say hello in Farsi.

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