TEHRAN – The country's population growth rate has decreased to less than one percent for the first time over the past four decades, Seyed Hamed Barakati, deputy health minister for family and school population has said.

The marriage rate in the country has dropped by 40 percent since 10 years ago, which is an alarm that threatens the country’s future in all economic, social and even security dimensions, he lamented.

In [the Iranian calendar year] 1389 (March 2010- March 2011), the number of marriages estimated at 890,000, which decreased to less than 550,000, last year, he stated, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

He went on to explain that 14 policies to support childbearing and the family were announced by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in [the Iranian calendar year] 1389 (March 2014- March 2015), when he stressed that social, cultural and economic development should be done in accordance with these general policies to support families. 

“But since 2 years ago, the marriage rate declined by 8 percent annually. With this trend, we will be one of the oldest countries in the world in the next 30 years, and this is dangerous in all scientific, social, cultural and economic fields,” he lamented.

At the beginning of the Islamic revolution (in 1979), the country's population grew by 2.5 percent annually, however, suddenly, population growth reached about 1.5 percent in the 1970s, he highlighted.

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