Name: Iran faces rapid demographic shift
Uploaded: 2025-12-16T15:23:23.135Z
Duration: 2 min 46 s
Description: Iran is undergoing one of the fastest demographic shifts in the world, with a sharply falling birth rate. Families face growing pressure as fewer children are born and the population ages rapidly.

Iran is undergoing one of the fastest demographic shifts in the world, with a sharply falling birth rate. Families face growing pressure as fewer children are born and the population ages rapidly.

Tehran

Iran is undergoing a significant demographic change, with the proportion of elderly citizens rising rapidly and fertility rates falling below replacement levels. The country is experiencing this transition much faster than other nations, with more than a quarter of the population expected to enter old age within just a few decades.

Economic difficulties and social factors are leading couples to delay marriage and childbirth, while advanced fertility treatments are becoming more common but remain costly and not always successful. As families struggle with these challenges, Iran faces the need to adapt to support both its aging and younger generations.

Iran faces rapid demographic shift

This is the sound of a new life, but it's fast becoming less common in Iran. In a nation already under economic pressure, its demographics are changing rapidly. The elderly now comprise up to 14% of the population, and that share is on track to soar, sooner and faster than expected. More than 25% of our population is moving into old age. This is a trajectory that other countries took over the course of a century, but we are traversing it in just 25 to 30 years. No country in the world has ever experienced such a rapid transition. While the nation is turning grey, the younger generation shows little interest in reversing that. A recent survey indicates only one in four married couples want to have children. Iran's fertility rate has declined from more than seven children per woman in the 1960s to fewer than two in recent years. Couples are delaying marriage, citing the rising cost of living, among other reasons. Mothers are giving birth at older ages, and some don't want children at all. Sadly, even after years of official marriage, some couples want abortion when they get pregnant. We try to dissuade them, but some are so determined they turn to medication or underground methods. Dr. Almasy says that newborns put pressures on their parents, most of them financial. Fertility at older ages has become a medical challenge requiring specialized care and intervention. Treatment centers are advancing assisted reproduction and embryo development to provide more solutions for the families facing the complex realities of age-related infertility. In cases of delayed marriage and postponed childbirth where we see more patients, we offer advanced treatments, including assisted reproductive technologies, ovum donation and gestational surrogacy. But such treatments aren't always easy, and again there are costs. We had a house which I sold to cover the treatment expenses. I underwent treatment several times but unsuccessful. I kept pursuing treatment and finally after six years my daughter was born. As Iran faces a fast demographic transition, families struggle to balance hope with hardship. With costs mounting and fertility falling, the country must find new ways to preserve life and support generations old and new. Tawheed Sadee Al Jazeera, Tehran

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