As he said in the beginning years after the Revolution population growth rate stood at 2.45 percent with an annual growth rate of 2.5 percent but the figure incrementally declined to 1.5 percent within the years and it, unfortunately, stands at less than one percent.
"The issue will become a challenge for Iran in the next 20 years," he expressed concern.
"Iranian population has entered its middle-ages as of four years ago and by 2050 the country will become an old one," Barakti said.
Population, development and their consequences are strategic issues that require short-term and long-term policies and planning to be addressed.
Due to the declining trend of population growth in Iran, it is needed for the government to focus on family-friendly policies.
A general population growth policy was announced on May 20, 2014, by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The policies address the need to increase the population and the various dimensions of it, including childbearing, facilitating marriage and strengthening the family, reproductive health, promoting the Iranian-Islamic lifestyle, empowering young people, honoring the elderly, and the environment, which can lead to an increase in the quantity and quality of the population if it is timely and continuous implemented.
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