TEHRAN –According to the head of the secretariat of the National Council of the Elderly, Mojgan Rezazadeh, the council has so far approved 18 strategic plans on aging to help improve the status of older adults.

These strategic plans include the development of age-friendly communities, formal and informal caregivers, neighborhood welfare programs, the bill to defend the rights of the elderly, amendment of executive regulations for organizing elderly affairs, training experts in aging, time bank, elderly data management dashboard, modern aging centers, elderly tourism, employment of the elderly, aging economy document, expansion of science and technology in aging, aging literacy, empowerment of single elderly women, long-term care insurance, and national survey, IRNA quoted Rezazadeh as saying.

Noting that there are a total of 9.8 million elderly people in the country, the official said the plans aim at boosting physical and mental health, social empowerment, improving the quality of care services, preventing harm, educating and developing culture and infrastructure, as well as enhancing the participation of older people.

The approved plans will soon be implemented nationwide, the official added.

Iran forecast to enter aging phase 

Due to the rapid growth in the number of older adults in the country, Iran is expected to enter a phase of population aging between 2041 and 2046, with nearly a third of the population being aged 60 and older by 2050, an official with the National Population Headquarters has said.

According to a recent report, the number of Iranians aged 65 and older is currently at 7.5 million, accounting for less than 10 percent of the country’s total population, Press TV quoted Mehdi Malmir as saying.

However, the rate of population aging is growing rapidly in Iran, mainly because of lower birth rates, increased life expectancy, and other demographic trends, he added.

The official said that the Iranian baby boomer generation of the 1970s and early 80s, which currently accounts for a considerable part of the country’s population, will be considered elderly in the next 15 to 25 years.

“This change of structure requires serious planning,” Malmir said.

He said that the single elderly account for 31 percent of Iran’s total elderly population, saying the category will expand in the near future to increase pressure on the Iranian health and pension systems significantly.

The official said a bulk of Iran’s population of seniors lives in rural areas of the country, adding that the northern province of Gilan has the oldest population, while the southern provinces of Khuzestan, Hormozgan, and Sistan- Baluchestan are demographically better placed than the rest of the country.

He said that around 62 percent of female seniors and some 39 percent of male seniors in Iran live below the absolute poverty line.

According to Saber Jabbari, an official with the health ministry, the number of aged citizens in the country is growing by 3.62 percent, which is five times faster than the total population growth rate, which is 1.24 percent. For the time being, elderly women account for 52.3 percent of the total population, outnumbering men (47.7 percent).

Despite offering incentives to encourage childbearing in line with the youth population law, the desired growth in the youth population has not been accomplished yet. It is one of the most important challenges facing the country.

“At best, Iran’s population with a total fertility rate of 2.5 will reach 102,890,000 by the next seven years,” IRIB quoted Mohammad-Javad Mahmoudi, an official with the Civil Registration Organization, as saying.

In the last two years, the fertility rate has stabilized around 1.6, which has intensified concerns over the decreasing trend in population growth in the coming years, and the probability of turning Iran into one of the oldest countries in the world, the official highlighted.

MT/MG