Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for more incentives granted to families and young married couples as part of national efforts to boost the birth rate.
Family is a key part of any society, which needs to be empowered partly through giving birth to children, Raisi said on Saturday, adding that families should be helped to alleviate their concerns including economic-related ones, of which the most important is housing that discourages young people from getting married.
The president said that his government has already embarked on taking measures to boost housing, including the construction of housing units for newly-wed students at Mashhad University.
Offering free of charge medical services to treat infertility as well as free medical care for children under 7 are other measures that contribute to boosting birth rate, Raisi said, also calling for tighter control of abortion in order to restrict it to the cases that are regarded as necessary by a physician.
The president, at the same time, called for monitoring the different types of the incentives that aim to boost birth rate in order to assess their effectiveness.
Any incentive proved to be effective should be continued and enhanced, while the one deemed unsuccessful should be modified, he said.
Raisi was speaking in Tehran during a ceremony to award individuals active in a plan dubbed the youth of the population that is part of the Islamic Republic’s measures to support families and prevent population ageing.