Nov 30, 2009, 6:44 PM

Iran’s youngest population in Ilam

ILAM, Nov. 30 (MNA) -- Ilam Province has the youngest population among the thirty provinces of Iran, Director of Ilam’s National Youth Organization, Abbas Heidari said here on Monday.

According to Heidari, youngsters aged between 20-29 accounts for about 16 million of the country’s population, and “Ilam province, where youth constitute 37.5 percent of the demography, is home to the youngest population in Iran.”

He described the delay in marriage and high divorce rate as the main concerns the province is faced with regarding its young generation.

The youth’s opinion about the best time to get married has shifted dramatically over the past years, Heidari lamented, blaming economic problems, including inflation, unemployment, and soaring real estate prices for such delay in marriage and high divorce rate.

Stressing the need for changing the marriage culture in the society, he called for concerted efforts to make marriage easy for the youth.

Iran’s National Youth Organization (INYO) recently referred to our religious teachings and called 24-25 the ideal age to get married.

According to the state Birth Registration Organization, there was 3 percent rise in the country’s marriage rate in 1387 (ended March 20, 2009).

There were 110,510 divorces recorded in 1387 (March 2008-March 2009).

Men aged between 25 and 29 and women 20 to 24 accounts for the highest rate of divorce, the figure showed.

There was a rise of 11 percent in the country’s divorce rate, compared with the last year.

SN/SJ

MNA

END

News ID 37232