TEHRAN – Four million Iranian couples (equivalent to 15-20 percent of total couples) suffer from infertility, Naser Amir Jannati, an infertility specialist, has said.

Numerous studies show that men are involved in more than 50 percent of infertility cases. In other words, they can be the main cause of this problem or play a role in this disorder along with female causes.

Although some of the causes of male infertility are still unknown, most of the causes are known and treatable, he highlighted, IRNA reported.

The provinces that have the highest number of infertile couples are Kerman, Bushehr, Sistan-Baluchestan, and Ilam, he added.

Births declined by 10,000

A total of 269,748 births were registered in the spring (March 21-June 21), showing a decrease of 10,816 births compared to the same period last year, according to the report released by the Statistical Center of Iran.

The fertility rate declined to 1.71 children in the past [Iranian calendar] year (March 2020-March 2021), reaching below the replacement level. Over the first three months of this year, 130,715 girls and 139,033 boys were born in the country.

The fertility rate declined to 1.71 children in the past [Iranian calendar] year (March 2020-March 2021), reaching below the replacement level.

Replacement level is the amount of fertility needed to keep the population the same from generation to generation. It refers to the total fertility rate that will result in a stable population without it increasing or decreasing.

The fertility rate from 2.07 children in the Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018), which can be considered fertility at the replacement level.

While 1,594,000 births were registered in the [Iranian calendar] year 1394 (March 2015-March 2016), the downward trend continued annually to the point that the number of births reached about one million in the [Iranian calendar] year 1399 (March 2020-March 2021); In other words, we lost more than 550,000 births in five years.

Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) wrote in an article in July 2020 that the fertility rate in Iran has dropped by 70 percent over the past 30 years, which has been the highest decline in human history.

Seyed Hamed Barakati, deputy health minister for family and school population, said in May that Iran’s population growth rate has decreased to less than one percent for the first time over the past four decades.

FB/MG