Family planning in Iran
Encyclopedia
The Republic of Iran
has a comprehensive and effective program of family planning
. While Iran's population grew at a rate of more than 3%/year between 1956 and 1986, the growth rate began to decline in the late 1980s and early 1990s after the government initiated a major population control program. By 2007 the growth rate had declined to 0.7 percent per year, with a birth rate of 17 per 1,000 persons and a death rate of 6 per 1,000. Reports by the UN show birth control policies in Iran to be effective with the country topping the list of greatest fertility decreases. UN's Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs says that between 1975 and 1980, the total fertility number was 6.5. The projected level for Iran's 2005 to 2010 birth rate is fewer than two.
During the Iran-Iraq war
between 1980 and 1988, a large population was viewed as a comparative advantage for Iran.
Although Iran's population boom started before the 1979 Islamic Revolution (in 1976 the fertility rate was 6 children/woman), Ayatullah Khomeini's edict led to an annual population growth rate of well over 3%. United Nations
data show that Iran's population doubled in just 20 years — from 27 million in 1968 to 55 million in 1988.
At one point in the 1980s estimates showed that Iran's population would reach 108 million by the year 2006.
and President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
, a sharp change was made in the Iran's population policy. Realizing "the costs of this burgeoning population were going to far exceed its capacity to provide adequate food, education, housing and employment", Iran's government "declared that Islam favored families with only two children", as one historian put it. Iran's Health Ministry launched a nationwide campaign and introduced contraceptives - pills, condoms, IUDs, implants, tubal ligations, and vasectomies.
In 1993, Parliament passed further legislation withdrawing food coupons, paid maternity leave, and social welfare subsidies after the third child. Birth control classes were required before a couple could get married. Dozens of mobile teams were sent to remote parts of the country to offer free vasectomies and tubal ligations.
By 2001, an Iranian condom factory produced more than 70 million condoms a year, "packaged in French or English to suggest that they are imported", according to a foreign reporter. By this time Iran's population growth rate had dropped from an all-time high of 3.2% in 1986 to just 1.2%, one of the fastest drops ever recorded. In reducing its population growth to this level — a rate that is only slightly higher than that of the United States — Iran emerged as a model for other countries that want to lessen the risk of overpopulation. In 2007 Iran's Total Fertility Rate had dropped to 1.71 with a net out-migration of 4.29 ‰ (and population 65 M).
Explaining the change in religious doctrine on population during a birth control workshop in 1995, Deputy Health Minister Husein Malek-Afzali stated "Islam is a flexible religion".
Critics reacted by noting that Iran was struggling with surging inflation and rising unemployment, estimated at around 11%, and that a population of 120 million could mean a shortage of fresh water limiting "the country’s domestic agricultural and industrial development options," and that some countries "triumph" over others because of superior "knowledge, technology, wealth, welfare, and security", not population size.
Ahmadinejad’s call for a higher birth rate reminded some of the demand of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
in 1979 for an increased population, which was eventually reversed in response to the resultant economic strain.
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
has a comprehensive and effective program of family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
. While Iran's population grew at a rate of more than 3%/year between 1956 and 1986, the growth rate began to decline in the late 1980s and early 1990s after the government initiated a major population control program. By 2007 the growth rate had declined to 0.7 percent per year, with a birth rate of 17 per 1,000 persons and a death rate of 6 per 1,000. Reports by the UN show birth control policies in Iran to be effective with the country topping the list of greatest fertility decreases. UN's Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs says that between 1975 and 1980, the total fertility number was 6.5. The projected level for Iran's 2005 to 2010 birth rate is fewer than two.
Pre-revolutionary era
According to Dr Malek Afzali, Iran's deputy minister for research and technology in the Ministry of Health, before the Islamic Revolution, there was family planning but "people did not accept it."Khomeini Era and pro-natalism
Following the Islamic Republic family planning clinics of the Shah were dismantled "on the grounds that Islam and Iran needed a large population."During the Iran-Iraq war
Iran-Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...
between 1980 and 1988, a large population was viewed as a comparative advantage for Iran.
Although Iran's population boom started before the 1979 Islamic Revolution (in 1976 the fertility rate was 6 children/woman), Ayatullah Khomeini's edict led to an annual population growth rate of well over 3%. United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
data show that Iran's population doubled in just 20 years — from 27 million in 1968 to 55 million in 1988.
At one point in the 1980s estimates showed that Iran's population would reach 108 million by the year 2006.
Rafsanjani era and decreasing natality
Following the war with Iraq, the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, and taking office of Supreme Leader Ali KhameneiAli Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
and President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is an influential Iranian politician and writer, who was the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until his resignation in 2011...
, a sharp change was made in the Iran's population policy. Realizing "the costs of this burgeoning population were going to far exceed its capacity to provide adequate food, education, housing and employment", Iran's government "declared that Islam favored families with only two children", as one historian put it. Iran's Health Ministry launched a nationwide campaign and introduced contraceptives - pills, condoms, IUDs, implants, tubal ligations, and vasectomies.
In 1993, Parliament passed further legislation withdrawing food coupons, paid maternity leave, and social welfare subsidies after the third child. Birth control classes were required before a couple could get married. Dozens of mobile teams were sent to remote parts of the country to offer free vasectomies and tubal ligations.
By 2001, an Iranian condom factory produced more than 70 million condoms a year, "packaged in French or English to suggest that they are imported", according to a foreign reporter. By this time Iran's population growth rate had dropped from an all-time high of 3.2% in 1986 to just 1.2%, one of the fastest drops ever recorded. In reducing its population growth to this level — a rate that is only slightly higher than that of the United States — Iran emerged as a model for other countries that want to lessen the risk of overpopulation. In 2007 Iran's Total Fertility Rate had dropped to 1.71 with a net out-migration of 4.29 ‰ (and population 65 M).
Explaining the change in religious doctrine on population during a birth control workshop in 1995, Deputy Health Minister Husein Malek-Afzali stated "Islam is a flexible religion".
President Ahmadinejad
A call for a reversal of Iran's existing policy of "two children is enough" came in October 2006, when President Ahmadinejad called for an increase in Iran's population from 70 to 120 million. Women should work less and devote more time to their “main mission” of raising children.I am against saying that two children are enough. Our country has a lot of capacity. ... for many children to grow in it. ... Westerners have got problems. Because their population growth is negative, they are worried and fear that if our population increases, we will triumph over them.
Critics reacted by noting that Iran was struggling with surging inflation and rising unemployment, estimated at around 11%, and that a population of 120 million could mean a shortage of fresh water limiting "the country’s domestic agricultural and industrial development options," and that some countries "triumph" over others because of superior "knowledge, technology, wealth, welfare, and security", not population size.
Ahmadinejad’s call for a higher birth rate reminded some of the demand of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
in 1979 for an increased population, which was eventually reversed in response to the resultant economic strain.
See also
- Health care in IranHealth care in IranHealth care in Iran and medical sector's market value was almost US $24 billion in 2002 and was forecast to rise to US $31 billion by 2007. With a population of almost 70 million, Iran is one of the most populous countries in the Middle East...
- Women's rights in Iran
- Demography of Iran
- Abortion in IranAbortion in IranAbortion in Iran has been the subject of controversy for many years.In 1978 abortion was first legalized.In April 2005, the Iranian Parliament approved a new bill easing the conditions by also allowing abortion in certain cases when the foetus shows signs of handicap,and the Council of Guardians...
- Demographic transitionDemographic transitionThe demographic transition model is the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. The theory is based on an interpretation of demographic history developed in 1929 by the American...
External links
- Continuing use of a traditional method (withdrawal) in a high contraceptive prevalence country, Iran: Correlates and consequences
- Population Control in Iran - Part I Part II Part III (free PressTV documentary)
- Marriage & Family in Iran (2010 PressTV video)