Premarital sex rising in Iran

A survey by the national youth organisation found that more than one in four men aged 19 to 29 had experienced sex before marriage. About 13% of such cases resulted in unwanted pregnancies that led to abortions. Read on...

Rising numbers of Iranians are spurning marriage and having sex illegally outside wedlock, Iran’s state-run body for youth affairs has said.A survey by the national youth organisation found that more than one in four men aged 19 to 29 had experienced sex before marriage. About 13% of such cases resulted in unwanted pregnancies that led to abortions. Sex outside marriage and abortion are outlawed under Iran’s Islamic legal code.

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The survey also revealed that the average marrying age had risen to 40 for men and 35 for women, a blow to the government’s goal of promoting marriage to shore up society’s Islamic foundations.

The statistics were disclosed by the national youth organisation’s social-cultural deputy, Ali Alkbar Asarnia, at a conference celebrating family values. Asarnia said Iran had around 15 million single young people and that 1.5 million more were becoming eligible for marriage each year. Seven million were already past the government’s recommended marrying guideline age of 29. The trend was producing the “unpleasant and dangerous social side effects” of premarital sex, Asarnia said.

Many blame economic circumstances for their failure to marry, citing high inflation, unemployment and a housing shortage along with cultural traditions that expect brides’ families to provide dowries and husbands to commit themselves to mehrieh, an agreed cash gift.