TEHRAN – A total of 33,080 multiple births were registered in the country in the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year that started in March 2023, the Civil Registration Organization has announced.

Twins made up the majority of multiples born; 31,320 out of 33,080 registered multiple births were twins, and 1,686 births were triplets, IRNA reported.

Tehran province with 14.7 percent and Semnan province with 0.5 percent had the highest and lowest number of multiple births, respectively.

A total of 798,550 births were registered in the country in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year.

According to the Civil Registration Organization, Tehran province with 99,633 births, and Semnan province with 5,201 births had the highest and lowest number of births in the country, respectively, IRNA reported.

Out of the registered multiple births in the first nine months, 28,148 were twins, 1,506 were triplets, 64 were quadruplets, and 10 were higher-order multiple births.

Some 34.6 percent of registered births were first-born children; 38.9, 17.6, 5.1, and 2 percent were related to second-born to fifth-born children.

Males outpace females

In the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year, more boys than girls were born. Over 51.8 percent of babies born were boys and 48.2 percent were girls.

According to the Civil Registration Organization, the ratio of male to female births in this period was 107.6 which shows a 0.6% growth compared to the same period last year (107), ISNA reported.

The ‘natural’ sex ratio at birth is around 103 to 107. This ratio gradually decreases in the following years due to the high death rate of the males. Around 20-25 years of age, this ratio is balanced and reaches 100.

The crude birth rate in the country for 9 months was equal to 8.12 per thousand population.

Also, Sistan–Baluchestan province and Gilan province with 9.27 per thousand population and 7.7 per thousand population had the highest and lowest crude birth rates.

Fertility rate should reach 2.5

In November 2023, an official with the Ministry of Health said that the total fertility rate should reach 2.5 from 1.66 before the closure of the demographic window in the next five years.

"The country is on the threshold of aging; to tackle this crisis, we must promote childbearing and youth population,” IRNA quoted Saber Jabbari as saying.

Over the last 30 years, the total fertility rate of the country has declined, but in the Iranian calendar year 1401 (March 2022– March 2023), the downward trend in fertility came to a halt, he added.

“Carrying out programs that are focusing on the youth population at the national level is a strategy to increase the total fertility rate,” Jabbari stressed.

Stating that the country’s fertility rate rose from 1.65 in the year 1400 (March 2021 – March 2022) to 1.66 in 1401 (March 2022 – March 2023), the official noted, “According to the general policies of the Seventh National Development Plan (2023 – 2027), the replacement rate is 2.5 which is to be achieved in the next five years before the closure of the demographic window.”

Talking about modern methods of infertility treatment, he said all modern methods of infertility treatment are offered in the country.

In May, Jabbari said that the number of families with four children or more has increased by 15 percent in the country.

He added that families with three children have also increased by 2.5 percent, IRNA reported.

The policy of having one or two children has changed in the society and the birth of a third child has been increasing, he highlighted.

A center in the Ministry of Health provides services in the field of care, education, and counseling, as well as facilitating successful and stable marriages, healthy fertility, and promoting natural childbirth, early diagnosis of infertility, and timely treatment, he pointed out.

MT/MG