December 25 2020
The number of marriages of girls aged 10 to 14 has recently jumped by more than a third, a development widely attributed to the law making cheap loans available to newlyweds.
The Rohani Administration started a program of subsidized loans for new couples in an effort to promote marriage and respond to the complaints of young people that they cannot afford to marry. But now many fear fathers are in effect selling off their young daughters to get their hands on some money.
The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) recently reported that 7,323 girls aged to between 10 and 14 were registered as brides in just the first two months of the current Persian year. That amounts to 122 such marriages each day.
From 2016 through 2019, the SCI said, about 130,000 girls in that age range were married. That works out at 90 per day.
So, the volume of such marriages has jumped over a third.
Iranian law permits the marriage of girls under 14 with the permission of their fathers. Many people are lobbying for that law to be changed.