Friday July 30, 2010

I've Been Thinking:

Since the fall of the Shah, Iran has had nothing but disdain for family planning.

The Shah encouraged a reduction of family size. Ads during the '70's proclaimed "2 is enough." Under the Shah, the optimum Iranian family size was 4.

For years now, even discussions of family planning is thought to be a sin of the West and considered anti-Muslim.

The reality is that today Iran is suffering from a huge people drain, the Iranian people are in a crisis environment. Iranians are leaving as quickly as they can find the opportunity. Very talented people are leaving Iran in droves. Estimates put unemployment at 15% to 20% (official figures say 10%). There are 73 million people in Iran. 10 million live in poverty.

So Iran has devised a plan. The government has said they will pay $950 per baby at birth and $95 per year until the child is 18 years old, the money will be used to send the child to school.

The Iranians hope that they have devised a way of increasing their population and filling a serious need for trained professionals.

Iran is planning for the future - and that includes more kids and more home trained professionals.

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