Hamdam (Companion), developed by a state-affiliated Islamic cultural body, requires users to verify their identity, carries out psychological compatibility tests and gives advice for young singles seeking a marriage partner.
The app offers matching and counseling services to prospective couples and their families, and remains in touch with them for four years after marriage, the semi-official news agency Fars reported.Since the app was unveiled, some 150,000 people have installed it, although only 6,500 users have been verified so far.
Western-style dating is banned under Iran's Islamic laws but many young people reject traditional arranged marriages and want to decide their own future.
The app is an update to the Tebyan matchmaking website which was launched in 2015. About 87,000 people had registered to that system as of two months ago, with about 3,700 successful marriages arranged by the site. On the website, applicants were required to fill out registration forms, provide two psychological tests and documents and undergo an in-person interview. The site was shut down two months ago in preparation for the launch of Hamdam.
App director Zohreh Sadat Hosseini told Fars News Agency that it aims to "make sure that young people can find their suitable partner in the shortest possible time in a scientific and calculated way, and with the support and supervision of their families."
Users complete forms, take two psychological tests and attach their documents. Their profile is then sent to companion experts for approval who also verify the applicant's information, according to Fars. Once the user is verified, the system will begin suggesting possible matches – users can manually search for other users, find the right person and request to be introduced.
Hosseini told Fars that the psychological tests are used to help find suitable matches and screen people with personality disorders who should not yet enter the marriage process. "This screening also helps to build stable and growing families that, thank God, will not lead to divorce," the director said.
OFFICIALS HAVE expressed concern that Iran's population could be among the oldest in the world in two decades after the fertility rate among Iranian women dropped 25% over the past four years, according to Iranian media reports. The rate is about 1.7 children per woman.
Iran started reversing its family planning policies a decade ago to increase the birth rate – making contraception, which had been available for free, gradually more difficult to get.
In 2014, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an edict that said boosting the population would "strengthen national identity" and counter "undesirable aspects of Western lifestyles."In a meeting with young newlywed couples in 2019, Khamenei encouraged government officials to provide more support to families in order to increase the Islamic republic's population, adding that "having more children should turn into a culture," according to his website.
"When the population is large, righteous individuals will naturally be larger in number, capabilities will naturally be more and human resources will obviously be more advanced," said Khamenei. The supreme leader presented China and India as examples of how countries with larger populations achieve more, neglecting to mention that both countries have implemented measures to restrict population growth.
The annual population growth rate in Iran was 3.7% in 1976 with a population of 33 million, but has plummeted to 1.3% since then with a current population of 82 million, according to Radio Farda. Prior to the 1979 revolution, Iranian officials were concerned about the high growth rate, but now Islamic republic leaders are unhappy with the slow rate.
The size of families has also decreased in Iran alongside a smaller birth rate and a higher age of marriage. In the 2016 census, about 10 million Iranians aged 20-39 were single.
In the 1990s, Iran offered free contraceptive services and issued "religious edicts in favor of vasectomies" due to fears of a population explosion, according to Farda.
Under direct orders issued by Khamenei to the conservative government of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, progressive laws on family planning were reversed, access to contraceptives was restricted and voluntary sterilization was outlawed.
The supreme leader promotes the idea of an Iran with at least 150 million people and insisted in 2011 that "the country would face an aging population in the not-too-distant future if couples refuse to have more children."
Iran's parliament has passed provisions to provide financial incentives for childbirth and marriage, including loans and handouts to young married couples with several children.
"Stop repeating the shibboleth and saying our country is great. Our resources are limited," said Environment Department head Isa Kalantari last year. "Without guaranteed imports, it will not be wise to increase the country's population," he said, adding that the nation will be left with no water in less than 50 years.