primary level, 40.2% had attended up to high school, and 4.2% had attended higher education. The population of Hamadan province is overwhelmingly Muslim, with 99.88% of residents being Muslims as of 1996. Average household size was 4.85 members as of 1996. 67.31% of sedentary, non-communal households consisted of the head of household, spouse, and children; 9.13% consisted of a married couple with no children; 5.1% consisted of a single parent with children; and the remaining 18.5% were other types of households. A total of 8.9% of households had a woman as head of household, and 81.8% of heads of households were employed. As of 1996, the province had no households living in tents, barracks, or "other makeshift forms of housing". 98.8% of households had access to electricity and 82.8% had access to piped water. 44.2% of households had bathrooms, but there was a significant discrepancy between urban (72.1%) and rural (14.5%) households in this regard. 22.7% of households had telephones in their homes; again, this was significantly higher in urban areas (38.3%) than in rural ones (14.5%). In terms of homeownership, 78.8% of households owned their houses while 10.5% were lease holders. As of 1997, the average annual urban household income was 11,707,000 rials and the average expenses were 10,317,000 rials or 88% of the income. For rural households, average income was 7,550,000 rials and average expenses were 6,933,000 rials or 92% of the income. Languages In the city of Hamadan itself, most people speak Persian. It is also spoken in some county centers. Persian is also used as a lingua franca in other areas. In the northern part of the province, most people speak Azerbaijani, and in the western areas near Kermanshah and Kordestan provinces, people speak Kurdish. Luri and Laki are also spoken in some areas, such as around Malayer, Nahavand, and Samen. Administrative divisions The current province of Hamadan used to form a part of Kermanshah province. At the 1956 census, the territory of the province belonged to four different governorships (farmān-dāri): Hamadan, Malayer, and Nahavand, and Tuyserkan. By the 1966 census, the general governorship (farmān-dāri-e koll) of Hamadan had been created. By the 1976 census, the general governorship had been upgraded to province status. Cities According to the 2016 census, 1,097,217 people (over 63% of the population of Hamadan province) live in the following cities: Ajin 2,738, Asadabad 55,703, Azandarian 11,171, Bahar 28,685, Barzul 2,457, Damaq