The Province of Kurdestan with the area of 28,817 square kilometers is located in the west of Iran. According to the latest country's divisions in 1996, the townships of Kurdestan are: Baneh, Bijar, Divandareh, Saqez, Sanandaj, Qorveh, Kamyaran and Marivan. Sanandaj is the center of this province. This province is a mountainous region located in the mountainside or scattered plains of the Zagross Mountains. Kurdestan is limited to the north by WestAzarbayjan and Zanjan, on the east by Hamedan
and Zanjan and on the south by the Province of Kermanshah and it is neighboring Iraq from the west.
The population of this province in 1996 was about 1.3 million out of which 52.4 percent settled in the urban areas and 47.6 percent were the rural settlers.