Marriage Statistics in Iran Have Declined by 40% Over a Decade
A senior official at the Ministry of Health confirmed recent reports about a sharp decline in marriages and an increase in divorces in Iran by releasing statistical data. He stated that for every three marriages, one divorce is registered, and half of all separations occur within the first five years.
According to the director general of the Office of Population and Family Health at the Ministry of Health, the number of registered marriages in 2010 was 890,000, and this figure declined by 40% to 500,000 marriages last year.
According to the Iranian News Agency (IRNA), Hamed Barkati presented these statistics on Wednesday, November 19, at an educational workshop on pre-marital counseling in Kerman, adding that the number of registered marriages in this province has also declined by 30% compared to the national average across Iran.
Barkati also reported a 20% increase in Iran’s elderly population in recent years, noting that just over 9% of Iranian citizens are over 65 years old.
This director general of the Ministry of Health also addressed the decline in fertility and childbearing in Iran in another part of his remarks. According to him, in the 1980s and 1990s, an average of 2 million babies were born annually in Iran, and this figure declined to approximately 1.6 million newborns in the 2010s.
Declining Fertility Despite Khamenei’s Recommendations
The decline in marriages and childbearing has occurred despite population growth, while the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly warned about population aging for several years and called for programs to increase the population.
The director general of the Office of Population and Family Health at the Ministry of Health states that to maintain the country’s population composition, on average, each woman of childbearing age must have at least 2 children, but the average fertility index in Iran has fallen to less than 1.9%.
Referring to the continuation of the declining trend in marriages and childbearing, he said: “We have not been able to perform well in these two areas, and looking at population growth and childbearing policies in the early days of the Islamic Revolution, there was a 3.5% growth rate, which has now fallen to 1.2%.”
This trend is exacerbated by increasing divorce rates and shorter periods of married life. According to Barkati, currently for every three marriages, one divorce is registered, and 50% of divorces occur within the first five years of married life.
The consequence of this situation is the slowing of Iran’s population growth rate, which was approximately 2.46% in 1986 and declined to 1.24% in 2016.
Fertility Rate Lower Than Previous Statistics
Simultaneously with these remarks, Health Minister Saeid Namaki told reporters on the sidelines of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that after taking office at the ministry, he tasked a team with preparing statistics regarding childbearing and fertility, whose findings differ from previous statistics.
According to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the health minister stated that in previous statistics, either an error occurred or there was “bad faith” in their preparation and announcement. There is also a possibility that previous officials manipulated and released statistics to please Khamenei or to pretend to advance programs he favored.
Saeid Namaki, referring to the slower fertility rate compared to previously announced statistics, said: “There are concerns about population growth becoming negative in the future.”
Source: DW
