The highest birthrate in Iran was registered in 1980, said Mohammad Javad Mahmoodi, head of the committee to study and evaluate population policies at the secretariat of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution. “The number of births surpassed 2.4 million in 1980, but declined from 2002 onwards,” he told IRNA. Although the average birthrate has gradually increased in recent years due to a change in the population policy following a directive from the Leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khameini and a 14-point national plan outlined in May 2014 to reverse the falling growth rate, it will see a decline for some years to come since women born during the 1980s and 1990s will exit their reproductive age. Stating that bringing the birthrates above replacement level is not feasible through mere incentive packages without any infrastructural changes, Mahmoodi called for proper implementation and management of population policies regardless of economic costs, since a gray population “will have more adverse effects on the country’s production and economy.”
