Total fertility rate of Iran 1925-2020

In 1925, the total fertility rate of Iran was just over seven children per woman, meaning that the average woman in Iran could expect to have seven children over the course of their reproductive years. The fertility rate would see little change from this figure until the late 1960s, when modernization and significant decreases in child mortality would lead the fertility rate to fall to just over 6.2 in 1975. However, fertility would begin to rise again in the 1980s, as the modernization policies of the Shah would be replaced by Islamic economic and social platforms with the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the country. The total fertility rate in the country would peak at just over 6.5 children per woman in 1985, in response to strong encouragement by the Iranian government promoting larger families to improve Iran’s manpower advantage over Iraq in the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran War. Following the war’s end with a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1988, fertility would fall sharply in the country, falling to 2.4 by the turn of the century, and falling below replacement-level in 2005. However, after bottoming out at 1.82 in 2010, fertility has risen somewhat in recent years, as the Iranian government has rolled out a series of economic incentives aimed at increasing fertility in the country. As a result, in 2020, the total fertility rate in Iran is estimated to have risen slightly, to 2.15 children per woman, above replacement-level.