UNFPA Backs Iran’s Plan on Population Growth

In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran on Monday, the new UNFPA envoy in Iran, Leila Saiji Joudane, said the UN body supports Iran’s national strategy for population growth that seeks to seize future opportunities linked to population.

For his part, Zarif stressed the need for closer cooperation with the UNFPA by respecting “the cultural values of Islamic countries.”

He also expressed Tehran’s readiness to cooperate with the UN body to formulate new population policies.

Founded in 1969, UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled, according to its website. UNFPA expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy and productive lives.

In May 2014, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei outlined general policies in Iran aimed at encouraging population growth to compensate for the declining birth rate over the past years.

In the preamble to the proclamation, the Leader referred to the country’s young generation as an “opportunity and privilege”, stressing that the general policies aim to make up for a reduction in the population growth and fertility rate the country has seen in the past years.