13m Couples in Childbearing Age

Thirteen million Iranian couples are in the childbearing age, said Mohammad Esmaeil Motlaq, head of the Population, Family and School Health Office at the Health Ministry. “The golden age to have children is between 18 and 35 years, and in order to allay concerns over the increasing gray population, these couples must have children,” he said on Monday at a conference on population policy in Hamedan Province, IRNA reported. Noting that 70% of the Iranian demographic is between 15 and 64 years, he said this provides an opportunity for sustainable population growth and stabilizing population dynamics. The total infertility rate now stands at 1.9, slightly higher than 1.8 in 2011, according to a population survey.