Population Change in Iran, 1966-86: A Stalled Demographic Transition?

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Abstract
The author assesses recent demographic changes in Iran against the backdrop of two sharply different ideological and socioeconomic environments, approximated by contrasting the two ten-year periods 1966-76 and 1976-86. In 1967 the government of Iran introduced a population policy aimed at lowering, fertility, and over the next decade the country experienced the onset of fertility transition, sustained through commitment to a family planning program, symbolic and legal changes in the status of women, and significant structural changes. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new government abandoned the fertility control policy, and official policy fostered early marriage and child-bearing. The influx of refugees from Afghanistan and a significant rise in the level of fertility, especially in urban areas, contributed to this stalling of the demographic transition. Since 1989, however, the government has taken practical steps to slow population growth, including the provision of family planning services and social support for using them.

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