Health Ministry Official: 13 Million Couples are Losing Their 'Fertility Age'

The Director General of the Population Health, Family, and Schools Office of the Ministry of Health announced a new agenda for the ministry to 'increase life expectancy among men' and expressed concern that about 13 million couples on the verge of marriage are losing their 'fertility age'. According to a report on Thursday, March 5, by Mehr News Agency, Mohammad Ismail Motlaq made these statements during 'Men's Health Week', which began on March 1. He stated that currently, life expectancy for men in Iran is 72.8 years and for women, it is 74 years. Motlaq also noted that life expectancy for Iranian men before the revolution was 54 years. The Director General announced that the ultimate goal of the ministry is to increase the 'qualitative' life expectancy among men. He mentioned that currently, the 'qualitative life expectancy for men is 63 years and quantitatively 72.8 years, and we need to improve this approximately 10-year gap between quantitative and qualitative life expectancy.' This official emphasized the prevention of premature and untimely deaths among men through the prevention and control of health-threatening risk factors, improving quality of life and life satisfaction, and ensuring health equity by reducing inequalities in health, especially access to and utilization of health services, as other feasible programs to increase life expectancy among men. His remarks come at a time when, in November of this year, Mahin al-Sadat Azimi, head of the Elderly Health Department of the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, announced that the 'disability-free life expectancy' in the country is 64 years and added that this issue 'requires special attention to women in society.' Life expectancy is a statistical indicator that shows the average lifespan in a community and has a direct relationship with the improvement of health and medical indicators. According to Mehr, Motlaq also stated in another part of his remarks that to increase the country's population based on the policies announced by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, 'our total fertility rate must reach 2.1.' He noted that this rate has been achieved in some provinces, 'but in others, especially in urban areas, this figure is 1.9.' The Director General of the Population Health, Family, and Schools Office of the Ministry of Health also expressed regret that 'we have more than 11 to 13 million couples on the verge of marriage whose fertility age is being lost.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly criticized population control policies in Iran in recent years and called for an increase in childbirth. He stated on October 11, 2012, in a gathering of people in the city of Bojnourd: 'One of the mistakes we made was that population control should have been stopped since the mid-1990s. The country's officials made a mistake in this regard, and I also share in this.'