Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the Deputy Coordinator of the Revolutionary Guards, has claimed that foreign powers have orchestrated a plot to stunt population growth in Iran.
According to Naqdi, the strategy is motivated by fears of Iran’s potential threat to superpower status of big powers.
“The enemy has planned to prevent the population increase in Iran due to the threat it poses to the superpowers,” he stated.
In Iranian government’s rhetoric, “enemy” usually refers to the United States.
He warned about the irreversible consequences of the country’s declining birth rate, noting that if the trend persists, Iran is on track to become the world’s third oldest country by 2041. He cautioned, “With the aging population, we are losing one of the elements of national security.”
Naghdi added that 20% of Iranian couples are unable to conceive, primarily due to the rising age of marriage.
The fertility rate in Iran has dramatically dropped to a mere 0.6% from 1.23% in 2021, marking a steep downward trend from the 4.21% in 1984, shortly after the Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s population has doubled since the early 1980s, growing from 40 million to 84 million. However, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has expressed concerns, urging that the nation’s population should reach at least 150 million by 2050 to prevent an aged demographic profile.
