Iran’s take on eHarmony
TEHRAN, IRAN— Iran has launched its first official matchmaking website in a bid to encourage millions of singles to marry. However, officials insist it is not a dating service.
“We have high demand for marriage and 11 million bachelors who are increasing every day,” Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mahmoud Golzari said in a ceremony launching the site.
“This is a significant issue for the ruling system.”
The website, Hamsan.Tebyan.net, pro- vides a platform for singles to post their profiles and specify what they are looking for in a potential spouse. A board of mediators matches applicants after reviewing their age, education, wealth and family background.
Golzari insisted the website is not a dating portal.
“The matchmaking website you are seeing today is not a website for introducing boys and girls to each other,” he said.
After several years of successful policies aimed at curbing population growth, Iran, with a population of 80 million, has begun encouraging young people to marry and have more children. The government fears that an aging population could one day overwhelm its social programs.
Iran has stopped providing free contra- ception and funding vasectomies, while state-sanctioned sermons have encouraged larger families.
The traditional role of Iranian families and local matchmakers in arranging marriages has declined in recent years, and the country has some 350 private matchmaking sites.
Clerics have lamented that many young Iranians are opting for long-term dating and informal partnerships rather than traditional marriage.
But an economic downturn fuelled in part by international sanctions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program has made it difficult for young couples to afford the cost of weddings and starting households.