Iran’s National Organization for Civil Registration said about 791 babies were born to child mothers aged 10-14 in the last six months.
According to the state-run ISNA news agency, this statistic is related to the period between March 21, 2017 to October 7, 2010.
Sistan and Baluchestan province has the highest number of the Iranian child mothers with 248 births. The provinces of Khuzestan with 92, Khorasan Razavi 65, Golestan 46, Kerman 45 and East Azerbaijan with 35 are in the next ranks.
According to the report, from March 20, 2021 to October 8, 2021, more than 36,500 babies were born to mothers between the ages of 15 and 19.
Recently, Mohammad Ali Mazaheri, Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology at Shahid Beheshti University, said: “The immediate and inevitable consequence of child marriage is the child mother; “A child who needs to be taken care of must now take care of another child.”
The Statistical Center of Iran said on August 20 that the marriage of girls between 10 to 14 years of age had increased by 10.5% in 2020 compared to 2019.
Speaking to the ISNA state-run News Agency, the Secretary of the National Authority of the Convention of the Rights of the Child said the marriage of children under 13 was prevalent in Iran.
According to official reports, increasing poverty and high inflation rates in Iran are among the causes of the phenomenon of child marriage.
According to Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, “In the last 4 months, the price of housing and basic goods in Iran has increased by an average of 10 percent to 15 percent, and this has led to a rise in the poverty line.”
If the poverty line of a family of four in the country at the beginning of this Iranian year (March 2021) was estimated at an average of 12 million Tomans per month, today this line has reached 14 million Tomans per month (The state-run ROKNA news agency – July 25, 2021).
Early marriage in Iran is among the most evident examples of violence against women in Iran.
The Iranian regime encourages child marriage and Iran’s Parliament has refused to approve the “child spouse” bill which would amend current laws that allow families to force their children, mostly girls, into marriage. The bill, introduced into parliament in 2016, proposes an absolute ban on the marriage of girls under age 13 and an absolute ban on the marriage of boys under 16. For the marriage of girls between the ages of 13-16 and for boys between the ages of 16-18, the bill would require parental consent and court permission. Marriage for girls over 16 and for boys over 18 would require no court permission.
