According to the new “Population Youth Plan”, couples who have had their third child since Nov. 22 will be eligible to receive government incentives such as free residential land in new towns with under 500,000 residents, says deputy minister of roads and urban development.
“In cities with a population of over 500,000, the land allocation will be in adjacent towns or new towns,” Mehr News Agency also quoted Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh as saying.
The parliament recently passed a bill that has been approved by the Guardians Council, an oversight body that ensures laws are in line with the Iranian Constitution and Sharia, aimed at increasing population growth by offering marriage incentives and preventing the aging of population.
The bill outlaws sterilization and free distribution of contraceptives in the public healthcare system unless a pregnancy threatens a woman’s health. The bill, which adds to limits on access to contraception and abortion, will remain in effect for seven years. The bill was first approved by the parliament on March 16.
It provides various benefits to people with children, including increased employment benefits for pregnant women and those who breastfeed. It prohibits the firing or transfer of a working woman during pregnancy against her will.
Several articles further limit already restricted access to safe abortion. Article 56 mandates the Health Ministry to establish a committee that includes doctors, Islamic jurists and representatives of the judiciary and the parliamentary health committee to draft new regulations for abortion that could lead to further restrictions.
As per the current bill, abortion can be legally performed during the first four months of pregnancy if three doctors agree that a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life or the fetus has severe physical or mental disabilities that would create extreme hardship for the mother.
Similarly, Article 59 mandates the Intelligence Ministry and other security agencies to identify and refer to judicial authorities cases of “illegal sale of abortion drugs, illegal abortion, websites gathering the list of abortion centers, those participating in illegal abortion and medical advice outside the permitted criteria for abortion, and elements advocating illegal abortion”.
Article 17 includes several benefits for women, including nine months of fully paid maternity leave in all sectors, an option for working from home for up to four months during pregnancy, and an option to take leave for medical appointments for women with children under age 7. The bill prohibits firing pregnant women and those who breastfeed.
New Mandates for State Bodies
The law also prohibits the production of cultural material against the country’s population policies and mandates Iran’s state broadcasting agency to produce programs encouraging women to have children and denouncing views encouraging people to remain single, have fewer children, or have abortions.
It also mandates the education and science ministries to produce educational material on those topics, and to invest in research on the benefits of increased childbearing and harm caused by contraceptives and abortion. The ministries are also tasked with increasing education majors at universities “consistent with women’s role in the Islamic-Iranian culture, including managing family and the house”.
*** Exemption for Married Conscripts With Two Children
The Majlis Joint Commission recently rejected the bill on buyout of military service from the fiscal 2022-23 budget.
The decision came after it was previously proposed that absentees who are over 35 years old or did not report for duty for at least eight years may opt to buy it out for 2.5-6 billion rials ($9,800-$23,500) depending on their educational level, with those with higher education having to pay higher fees.
According to Iran’s Constitution, all men over 18 years old must serve in the military for about two years.
The joint commission is a parliamentary body responsible for reviewing the budget bill as well as five-year development plans proposed by the government before it is put to a legislative vote.
Yet, the commission adopted another measure instead of the buyout plan, according to its spokesman, Rahim Zare’.
“Married conscripts with over 30 year and two children or more will be exempt from military service free of charge as of next year [starting March 21],” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Aging Population, Decline in Growth
The Statistical Center of Iran estimates that the age of over 26% of Iran’s population will be 60 or older by the fiscal 2051-52.
The population of this age group accounted for 9.3% of the total population in the fiscal 2016-17.
SCI also estimated that about 19% of Iran’s total population will be 65 years or older by that period.
In the fiscal 1956-57, the elderly population of Iran (those of ages 65 years or older) stood at 4% of the total population.
The share of the elderly in the total population started decreasing in the fiscal 1966-67 until 1996-97 from 3.8% to 3.1% and started increasing from 1996-97 until 2016-17 from 4.4% to 6.1%.
The SCI data also show that the population of elderly women is growing at a faster pace compared with their male peers.
The population of elderly men and women stood at 400,000 each in the fiscal 1956-57. It stood at 500,000 for each in the fiscal 1966-67 and 600,000 in 1976-77. In the fiscal 1986-87, the population of elderly men stood at 800,000 people and that of elderly women hit 700,000.
The population of elderly women stood at 1.2 million in the fiscal 1996-97, while that of elderly men hit 1.4 million people. In the fiscal 2006-07, the population of elderly men stood at 1.9 million and the elderly women’s population hit 1.7 million. The population for elderly men and women stood at 2.2 million each in the fiscal 2011-12.
The population of elderly women started to outpace men’s since the fiscal 2016-17 and stood at 2.5 million, while the population of elderly men stood at 2.4 million people.
It is estimated that the population of elderly women will stand at 10.1 million in the fiscal 2051-52 and the population of elderly men will reach 8.9 million.
According to latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran in the fiscal 2016-17, Iran's population stood at 79,926,270 – 9,430,488 more than the fiscal 2006-07.
SCI conducts population census every 10 years.
The rise in population from the fiscal 2006-07 to the fiscal 2011-12 hit 4,653,887 with an average growth of 1.29%, and the increase from the fiscal 2011-12 to the fiscal 2016-17 stood at 4,776,601 with an average growth of 1.24%, according to Javad Hosseinzadeh, the head of SCI.
Following a second wave of population growth, the rate was expected to be more than 1.5%, however it seems that cultural and social factors such as an increase in the level of literacy and education, especially among women, urbanization, industrialization, growth in living costs and the tendency of families for having fewer children have reduced the average annual growth of the country's population.
According to SCI, the population in urban areas increased at an average annual rate of 1.97% during the five-year period under review while it is decreasing by 0.68% in rural areas.
The country's urbanization ratio stood at 74% and the opposite, the ruralization ratio, was 30%.
People who were born in the 1980s – currently in their youth and adulthood – will be 65 or older in three or four decades. These people actually form most of the youth population in Iran. Therefore, it is estimated that the current young population of Iran will join the elderly population in 30 years.
“Like many countries, Iran’s population is aging due to factors like low fertility rates and improved healthcare, both of which are triumphs of development,” explained Leila Joudane, the United Nations Population Fund Representative in Iran.
“Nonetheless, an aging population comes with challenges as well that we must address if we are to convert them into opportunities.”
Today, as in several other countries, many of Iran’s older persons are highly vulnerable. Many face financial challenges and some are becoming disabled or facing discrimination.
UNFPA is working with its government partners to support research into the phenomenon of Iran’s aging population, and promote the adoption of policies that support older people and meet their needs.
