Iran's Fountain of Youth by The Globalist

The Globalist Quiz > Global Society Iran's Fountain of Youth
By The Globalist \| Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The world's eyes are focused on Iran as many of the country's citizens protest Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suspiciously lopsided reelection victory. Iran's youth, strongly supportive of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, are a key force behind the civil unrest. We wonder: What share of Iran's population is under age 30?

Answers:

A. 30%

B. 40%

C. 60%

D. 70%

A. 30% is not correct.

Italy is one of the many European countries with a sizable older-age population. Not surprisingly, its population of under-30-year-olds is relatively small. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, young people account for only 30% of Italy's total population — one of the lowest percentages in the world.

By comparison, in Iran the under-14 generation alone — which was born at least 15 years after the 1979 revolution — makes up around 24% of the country's total population today.

B. 40% is not correct.

The United States, owing to its status as an immigrant country, has a younger population than most industrialized countries — with 41% of its population under 30 years of age.

In comparison, the current share of the U.S. population 60 years of age and older stands at 17% — while it stands at just 7.3% in Iran.

C. 60% is correct.

Close to 60% of Iran's population is under the age of 30. However, as recently as 2000, this figure stood closer to 70%. That was due to the large numbers of births that occurred following the country's 1979 revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted from 1980 to 1988.

At the same time, official youth unemployment in Iran reaches around 30%. This figure is expected to increase as more Iranians reach working age each year.

D. 70% is not correct.

Around 70% of Nigeria's population of 132 million is under age 30 — a figure similar to that of other sub-Saharan African countries. In fact, by 2025 the median age in the region is expected to remain at just 20 years.

While many families in poor countries view large numbers of children as necessary to their survival, large populations often impede development because there is not enough work to go around. In fact, countries in sub-Saharan Africa would need to create close to ten million jobs per year just to keep up with working-age population growth.

	Printer-friendly version
	Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Let us know what you think ...

You must be a registered user of our site to send us your comments. If you have already registered, please log in. If you a new user of our site, please register now. Registration is quick, easy and completely free.

Complete the below to send a letter to the editor about this article.

Name

Email Address

City and State

Country

Comments

Please note: If we publish your comment on The Globalist, we will identify only your name, city and country. We do not publish anonymous comments. Your email address will not be published.

We regret that we cannot publish every comment we receive. Furthermore, because we review each comment before it is published, there may be a delay between the time you send your comment and its appearance on our site. The Globalist reserves the right to edit comments for style and length.