TEHRAN - During the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year which started March 21, 2022, births as many as 893,786 were registered in the country, compared with 347,450 deaths.

A total of 462,058 boys and 431,728 girls were born in the 10-month period, according to the Civil Registration Organization.

Population growth policies

By a decree issued by President Ebrahim Raisi, the "Law on Family and Youth Support" approved by the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) a year ago, was instructed to the Judiciary for a 7-year implementation, to reach favorable results.

It was also instructed to other ministries including the Health Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Education Ministry, as well as the Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs.

The plan stipulates health insurance for infertile couples, providing services and facilities to working women, providing health and nutrition support packages to mothers and children, educational opportunities for student mothers, providing livelihood support to families, and ongoing medical services to pregnant women.

The national budget bill for the current [Iranian calendar] calendar year (March 2022-March 2023), has proposed 120 trillion rials (nearly $300 million) to implement childbearing and family support plans in the country.

Now the Ministry of Health has made 90 percent progress in implementing 18 articles of the Family and Youth Support Law,

Some 43 articles of the Law, accounting for 60 percent, are directly and indirectly related to the Ministry of Health, in which 47 percent progress has been achieved in the implementation of 20 articles and 90 percent success in 18 articles.

Also, as per the Law, children and family allowance of all different groups of employees in the relevant institutions, the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and also faculty members of universities and research institutions, judges and retirees will increase by 50 to 100 percent.

In order to restore the rights of government employees and retirees, the government presented a bill to the Majlis, which was reviewed by the budget and program committees, and finally, the members of this commission came to the conclusion that this bill restores the rights of government employees and retirees.

The Law also describes the conditions for maternity leave. The duration of maternity leave was increased to 9 months with the payment of all salaries and related bonuses, and if the mother requests, up to two months of this leave can be used in the final months of pregnancy, which is 12 months for the birth of twins and multiples.

In this regard, a bill also was sent to the Majlis to provide insurance for housewives with three or more children in villages and cities with a population of fewer than 20,000 people.

In line with the Law, domestic car manufacturing companies were obliged to deliver an Iranian car at the factory price to mothers after the birth of their second child.

After the implementation of the Law, so far, the issue has been taken into account by the domestic car manufacturing companies, at each time of registration (people register to purchase cars at a lower price than what is sold in the market, and some of them will win randomly), 50 percent of the cars in each registration period were earmarked to the mothers who recently gave birth to their second child.

A bill was also approved to add an article to the Law, according to which banks and credit institutions were obliged to grant facilities to help with marriage and childbearing, Mohsen Dehnavi, a member of the Majlis said.

Free residential land is given to families with newly born quadruplets, he also noted.

Couples who have their third child benefit from government incentives such as land, so that in cities with a population of fewer than 500,000 people and more, half of the land is allocated to the mother and another half to the father.

In cities with more than 500,000 populations, the land will be given to families with 3 or more children in new cities or nearby cities, he added.

MG