Geopolitical Challenges of Unequal Development of Regions in Iran 1996 - 2006

The determination of the level of development in different regions is necessary for having an effective framework for the balance distribution of population, activities, functions and planning. The present article is an attempt to study – through factor analysis - the level of rural and urban development of Iranian provinces between 1996 and 2006. With the removal of colinearity between the factors, the primary indicators will be limited to certain number of factors. The sum total of the factor scores can be representative of level of development of the provinces. The findings of the present research indicate that the indexes of development have increased in most of the rural and urban areas, while inequality between the more developed and lesser developed provinces have increased too. The development gap between Tehran Province (the most developed) and Sistan and Baluchestan Province (the least developed) in rural areas is 157.37 percent and in the rural areas 100.88 percent. This underlines the necessity of revision of national planning which requires more attention to the regional planning.