TEHRAN – According to a report by the National Organization for Civil Registration, the average age of women in Iran giving birth to their first child stood at 27.6 years in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21, which has increased compared to 27.5 years in the year earlier.

The average age of the father at the birth of his first child was 32.3 over the five months, the report added. The average age of first-time mothers in urban areas was 28.3, and in rural areas was 24.4. The average age of first-time fathers in urban areas was 33.1, and in rural areas was 30.7, Borna news agency reported.

During the same period, 272,238 marriages were registered across the country. The average age at first-time marriage for women and men was 24.2 and 28.3, respectively.

Within these seven months, a total of 540,528 births were registered in the country in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year. Baby boys and girls accounted for 280,647 and 259,881 births, respectively. According to the report, 421,264 births were registered in urban areas and 119,264 in rural areas, Mehr news agency reported.

During the period, 11,169 multiple births were registered in the country. Out of which, 10,806 were twins, 352 were triplets, and 11 were quadruplets.

Transition into an aging country ‘inevitable’

Considering the fact that the fertility rate in Iran is stabilized at around 1.6 children per woman, which is much lower than the rate required to replace its aging population, the transition of society from young to middle-aged has become inevitable.

According to the first five-year national development plan (1989-1993), the policies focused on lowering the total fertility rate from 6.4 children in the Iranian year 1365 (1986) to 4 children in 1390 (2011) and reducing the population growth rate from 3.2 to 2.3 percent in the same period, IRNA quoted Mohammad-Javad Mahmoudi, an official with the National Institute for Population Research, as saying.

However, the measures taken back then led to a wide transformation and change in population indicators and a noticeable decrease in population growth and fertility rate far beyond the set goals of the first development plan in the country, the official noted.

In the next 30 years, the population aged 60 years or older is projected to hold a 32 percent share of the whole population; that is, the elderly will account for one-third of Iran’s population by 2050, the official noted.

MT/MG