Counties of Iran
Iran's counties are administrative divisions of larger provinces. The word shahrestan comes from the Persian words شهر ' and ستان '. "County", therefore, is a near equivalent to شهرستان.
Counties are divided into one or more districts. A typical district includes both cities and rural districts, which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county, generally in its Central District.
Each county is governed by an office known as farmândâri, which coordinates different public events and agencies and is headed by a farmândâr, the governor of the county and the highest-ranking official in the division.
Among the provinces of Iran, Fars has the highest number of shahrestans, while Qom has the fewest. In 2005 Iran had 324 shahrestans, while in as of now there are 483.
Guide
The total population of a province is the total of its counties.The total population of a county is the total of its districts.
The total population of a district is the total of its cities and rural districts.
To better understand these subdivisions, the following table for Piranshahr County in West Azerbaijan province is an example showing the hierarchy of a county's divisions:
| Administrative Divisions | 2006 | 2011 | 2016 |
| Central District | 84,920 | 99,205 | 115,200 |
| Lahijan Rural District | 5,509 | 5,481 | 5,183 |
| Mangur-e Gharbi Rural District | 9,120 | 8,999 | 9,090 |
| Piran Rural District | 12,599 | 15,676 | 9,412 |
| Piranshahr | 57,692 | 69,049 | 91,515 |
| Lajan District | 22,757 | 24,434 | 23,664 |
| Lahijan-e Gharbi Rural District | 6,904 | 7,169 | 6,261 |
| Lahijan-e Sharqi Rural District | 14,537 | 15,592 | 13,202 |
| Gerd Kashaneh | 1,316 | 1,673 | 4,201 |
| Total | 107,677 | 123,639 | 138,864 |