Women's Rights & Movements in IranAhmadinejad urges girls to marry at 16

Ahmadinejad urges girls to marry at 16

-

AP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged young girls to marry at age of 16 in his latest rejection of the country’s once effective family planning program, local newspapers reported on Sunday.

The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged young girls to marry at age of 16 in his latest rejection of the country’s once effective family planning program, local newspapers reported on Sunday.

Following record birth rates in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran implemented an internationally praised family planning program in the 1990s that dramatically reduced the growth rate. Ahmadinejad has criticized the program as an ungodly and a Western import.

“We should take the age of marriage for boys to 20 and for girls to about 16 and 17,” he said, according to the state-owned Jam-e Jam daily. “The marriage age for boys has reached 26 and for girls to 24, and there is no reason for this.”

Since coming to power in 2005, the Iranian president has sought to increase of the country’s population, which is already at 75 million, with a third between the ages of 15 and 30.

In July, he inaugurated a new policy to encourage population growth with financial incentives for every new child born, having previously said the country could feed a population of 150 million.

Critics said the policy will only exacerbate unemployment, currently set 9 percent officially. There are an estimated 3 million unemployed people of working age in the country.

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

Iran smuggling missiles into Iraq: US military

AFP: Iran is smuggling advanced weapons, including surface-to-air missiles,...

Iran: Retirees Protest Low Pensions, Poor Living Conditions

Retirees of the Social Security Organization and the steel...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you