Nipissing prof speaks at a national news conference in Tehran

In a national News Conference, held in Tehran in July 8, 2013, Dr. Amir Erfani, from Nipissing University’s Department of Sociology, spoke about the key results of his most recent research project, entitled “The 2012 Tehran Survey of Fertility Intentions”(TSFI), funded by the Population Studies and Research Institute in Asia and the Pacific.The project’s findings were released and published in a wide range of media, including press and cable media, and the media conference received wide national attention.
Many countries in Western Europe and Asia, including Canada and Iran, face a low fertility level, which leads to a shortage of young labour force and an aging population. In his project, Dr. Erfani examined factors that directly influence and shape people’s fertility intentions to stay childless or want no (more) children in a very-low fertility context, like Iran, where on average a woman give birth to 1.5 children in her life course; a fertility level that does not replace parents’ generation.
The findings showed that people who had more negative attitudes to having a (another) child, felt less social pressure for having a (another) child, and had a greater control over resources required for childbearing are more likely to want no (more) children within the next three years or being unsure about it. Dr. Erfani also showed that some of the government’s population policies aiming to encourage young couples to have more children in the very-low fertility context of Iran (such as an increase in the duration of maternal leave and leave of absent for employed women), cannot be successful in the context of Iran, where only about 15 percent of women are employed.
Dr. Erfani will speak more about the results of this project in the upcoming Research Speaker Series, featuring winners of the Research Achievement Awards at Nipissing University, in the fall and winter 2013-2014.
To see the interview of Dr. Amir Erfani with Arman Daily (in Persian) on the consequences of low fertility for Iran’s population and economy published on July 14, 2013, you can click the below link:http://armandaily.ir/1392/04/23/Files/PDF/13920423-2235-19-7.pdf