Packest

On the site of Pakdasht in ancient times there were several rural settlements located in the desert of Rey. Around 1300-1250. BC e. in the area of ​​modern Pakdasht, a ceramic culture developed. In the 7th century n e. the region was conquered by the Arabs. In the 8th century there were several very large and important villages of more than 10 thousand people each. In the Qajar era, the land of the region was owned by members of the royal family. During the Pahlavi dynasty , Reza Shah also captured several villages and transferred them to his heir. After the Islamic Revolution, in 1998 the Pakdasht shahrestan was officially created. Currently, many peoples live in the city, for example, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Luris, Persians, each nation has its own customs, but cultural unity is felt between them ^[2] . The city and its environs have many attractions, for example, the tomb of Imamzade Panjali, the tomb of Imamzade Auliya, the tomb of Imamzade “Chehel-Dokhtar” (lit .: Forty daughters) and some other tombs, the ancient Bir-Daglan glacier cellar, a bridge over the local river, built under Qajar and registered as a national heritage of Iran ^[3] .

The population of the city, in accordance with the last three official censuses (October 1996, October 2006 and October 2011), was respectively: 49,220, 126,937 and 206,490 people, thus increasing four times over the entire period. This is a very high pace. The population of the city grew very rapidly in 1996-2006: approximately 99 ‰ on average per year. Such colossal growth rates cannot be achieved even with the highest possible birth rate, which, however, most likely was observed at that time in Pakdasht. But its maximum level is only about 50-55 ‰ per year, or two times less than the fixed figures for urban population growth. Therefore, it is obvious that the bulk of the recorded population growth was given by mass migration. In 2006-2011. the average annual general growth rate of citizens increased, even exceeding the maximum possible birth rates: they amounted to 102 ‰. The population growth graph of the city has a pronounced hyperbolic form, which means that the relative, though absolute, growth rates of its population are growing from year to year. In general, for 1996-2006. on average, the population of the city grew by 7,800 people per year, and in 2006-2011. - by 15,900 people, or 2 times more. The city’s share in the total population of Tehran has also grown sharply: in just 5 years, it has risen from 1.1% in 2006 to 1.7% in 2011. If we take the population of Tehran itself (without suburbs) for 100%, then In 1996, only 0.7% of this number lived in Pakdasht, but in 2006 it was already 1.6% (+0.9%), and in 2011 - 2.5% (also +0.9 %). Thus, the population growth of Pakdasht is much faster than its growth in the capital, probably due to the much higher birth rate of the local population, and due to mass migration. A characteristic feature of the population of Pakdasht is the sharp predominance of men: according to the 2011 census, there were 105.8 thousand people, and women - only 100.7 thousand. In other words, more than 105 men are registered in the city of 100 women. This is due to the pronounced youth of the local population, that is, a high percentage of children and youth, among which, as a rule, males are sharply predominant, and a low percentage of elderly, among whom women usually prevail ^[4] . Due to the youth of the population, a very high growth rate of the urban population will continue to be observed, although it is likely that in the coming years there will nevertheless be a departure from excessively high growth rates, since the double-digit figures of average annual growth are extremely high and cannot continue indefinitely. They will have to gradually begin to decline, primarily due to a decrease in the rate of migration, which will happen when a sufficiently large number of people have already moved to the city, which means that the migration reserves will decrease significantly: there will be no one to migrate because everyone who wanted to move to Pakdasht will already move into it. When the city reaches a sufficiently high population (approximately 500 thousand people), its birth rate will also have to fall sharply, since in the conditions of modern Iran, the birth rate in large cities is falling quite quickly. This will block the second source of rapid urban growth. When all these processes happen, one can expect a rapid fall in the current population growth rate of Pakdasht: by 2, 3, or even 4 times - to the average level characteristic of large cities in the developing countries of the Middle East.

• City Pakdasht