Mojtaba Khamenei pushes for baby boom as regime braces for incoming population crisis

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is advocating for a significant increase in birth rates across Iran, framing it as a crucial step toward making the Islamic Republic an "influential power." This push for a "baby boom" is seen by experts as a potential, though possibly ineffective, strategy to counteract the growing economic and social challenges posed by the nation's rapidly aging population.

Khamenei articulated his vision in a recent letter and on X/Twitter, stating that "population growth" would enable the "great Iranian nation" to achieve "strategic leaps" and advance toward building a "new Islamic-Iranian civilization." This initiative appears to prioritize national pride through marriage and birth rates, contrasting with other nations' focus on social benefits to encourage higher birth rates. Tehran has recently hosted state-sponsored mass weddings, with images of Khamenei prominently displayed, and matchmaking stalls have become a fixture at pro-regime rallies.

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By earnestly pursuing the correct, necessary policy of population growth, the great Iranian nation will be able to play a major role and experience strategic leaps in the future, taking long strides toward building the new Islamic-Iranian civilization.

However, the push for more births comes as Iran faces a demographic crisis. Alireza Raisi, the Health Ministry's deputy for public health, warned that the country's birth rate has dropped to 1.35 children per woman. This decline, coupled with factors like war, economic hardship, and environmental issues, could make it difficult for Iran to offset its rising death rate. Experts note that the regime previously encouraged birth control in the 1980s and 1990s to manage a post-war baby boom, but now faces the opposite challenge of an aging populace and a shrinking workforce.

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Families come here looking for a good future for their children. We try to make marriage easier by reducing expectations.