Child Motherhood in Iran: 1,450 Babies Are Born to Mothers Younger Than 15 Each Year
Iranian state media recently reported on the birth of a child to a 14-year-old mother, calling her the "youngest mother in Iran". The article sparked a heated debate, especially on social media platforms. Yet the incident was only one example of child motherhood in Iran. Hundreds more cases go unreported by state media each year. Mothers aged 14 years or younger gave birth at least 10,125 times in the past seven years, Iran Open Data has found.
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This statistic, published in Iran's quarterly statistical reports, shows that the average annual number of births to mothers aged younger than 15 years is 1,446, and the average annual number of births to mothers under the age of 20 is more than 76,000. This figure is 6% of the average birth rate in Iran.
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Birth rate statistics from the past seven years indicate that the overall rate of births to mothers under 15 has been decreasing. It dropped from over 1,550 births per year to less than 1,400. But, it started to rise again after 2021.
In proportion to the overall annual birth rate, the trend of teenage pregnancy has actually increased in the past 7 years. The ratio of births by mothers under 15 to the total birth rate in 2021 increased 40% compared to 2016, from about 0.1% to 0.14%.
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Iran Open Data previously published a report about child marriage, citing official statistics that show an average of 135,000 girls under 18 get married in Iran each year. Of those, 1,700 marriages are by girls under the age of 13.
According to international standards, marriages of individuals under the age of 18 are classified as child marriage. Iran's civil law, however, permits the marriage of girls under the age of 13 with the “consent of the guardian” and a “determination of the child’s best interest” by the courts.
