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Premarital sex is normatively unacceptable in Afghanistan, yet rapid social and cultural transformation in the country may be changing these traditional norms. In dialogue with cross-national scholarship, we examine attitudes toward premarital sex and experience of premarital sexual behaviours among urban Afghan youth. We use data from 1256 never married individuals aged 15-29 surveyed in ten Afghan cities. The results show that respondents, on average, have moderately liberal attitudes toward premarital sex and that almost one quarter of them had engaged in either sexual foreplay or penetrative intercourse. Multivariable results indicate that premarital sexual attitudes and behaviours were significantly associated with several individual-level characteristics, family and intergenerational relationships, and social ties and interactions. At the same time, instructive gender variations emerge. The findings illustrate the dynamics of premarital sexual relations in this and similar contexts where such relations are traditionally stigmatised but multifaceted, societal changes increasingly challenge this stigma.

In the contemporary global context, the challenge of integrating immigrants into host societies has gained prominence. This paper delves into the perceptions and experiences of Afghan immigrants in Iran regarding immigration policies and laws. Employing a constructivist grounded theory methodology, the study aims to uncover participants' interpretations and the meanings attributed to immigration policies and laws. Grounded theory analysis, involving initial, focused, and theoretical coding, was employed to collect data. The results reveal that current immigration laws and policies in Iran have led to economic disparities, limited educational opportunities, social isolation, and identity challenges for Afghan immigrants. Iran's integration policies lean towards exclusion. Consequently, Afghan immigrants experience a weakened sense of belonging in the country. Therefore, our study suggests the importance of implementing integration theories and policies instead of those promoting disintegration. Such policies not only hinder immigrants' assimilation but also impede the overall progress of the host nation, thus undermining social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The rate of population aging in Iran is higher than the regional and global levels and Iran will enter the aging phase by 2040s. Considering the importance of the changes that population aging will create in Iranian society, this study aims to investigate the challenges and drivers of population aging in the next three decades in Iran. Methods & Materials The is a futures study using the scenario analysis method. Data were collected from different sources to understand the possible challenges of the population aging. Then, the obtained information was analyzed based on experts' opinions, structural analysis, cross-impact balance analysis, and scenario development. The data were analyzed using Mic-Mac and Scenario Wizard applications. Results The main drivers of population aging in the future will be governance variables in the field of old age, pension funds, health costs at micro and macro levels, distribution of welfare, fertility and household size, insurance coverage & pension. These variables will affect the geriatric workforce, intergenerational relationships, social participation, and the lifestyle and quality of life of older adults (outcomes). The possible scenarios for the future of population aging in 2050 were "Risky ageing", " Twilight ageing", "Dawn of ageing", and "Prosperous ageing". Conclusion To achieve the desired scenario, i.e., " prosperous ageing" in Iran, we need a smart governance with a forward-looking view in the field of aging, equal welfare distribution, win-win pension funds, active economic and social participation of older adults, and fertility rate above the replacement level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past half-century, Iran has experienced unprecedented demographic transition. With a population over 85 million, Iran's population growth recently has declined below one per cent per year, compared with nearly four per cent in the 1980s. This phenomenal decline is the result of social developments along with the re-introduction of a family planning program, which progressively brought the total fertility rate (TFR) down to below-replacement level since 2000. That is, from around seven children per woman in the mid-1980s–and despite the reversal of population policies toward pronatalist since 2010–the total fertility rate had decreased to 1.7 children per woman in 2021, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic shocks. Life expectancy at birth has tripled in the last century (1920-2020) from 25 to 75 years. There have been important changes in the age structure of Iran's population, with the under-15 population decreasing from 40 per cent in 1996 to 20 per cent in 2021. In contrast, the working-age population (ages 15 to 64) has increased substantially to over 70%, indicating that Iran has entered a 'demographic window of opportunity'. Accompanied by rising levels of educational attainment among both men and women, this demographic window has the potential to create socio-economic opportunities for Iran over the next three decades, provided that adequate economic conditions, public policies and youth employment are prepared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration is affected by several factors, the effect of each factor is different in various parts of the world. One of these factors is drought, which can have a greater impact upon human migration in arid and semi-arid regions. Identifying the migration centers can also affect the adopted migration policies. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was used to monitor the Iran's drought in the last three decades (1986-2016). First, using the frequency of dry months, the zoning map was obtained from the geographical information system (GIS). Then, the existence of spatial autocorrelation in the data was investigated using Global Moran's I statistics. In the next step, the Hot Spot analysis on the data of the net migration rate was done to identify the migration centers. The findings showed that the spatial pattern of occurrence of dry months during the last three decades increases from the south and southeast of Iran to the north and west. Moreover, the values of Moran's I for the net migration rate in the studied periods were between 0.17 and 0.45, which indicates clustering in the migration data. The hot spot analysis also showed that the centers of migration in the country are located in the center and west of the country. Comparing migration centers with the pattern of dry months of the year shows that migration centers, both in-migration and out-migration, are located in places with moderate to high zones of dry months, which can make complicated in identifying the relationship between drought and migration flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Today, the issue of older adults' well-being has become a serious challenge of policy-making and a key subject of researches. The complexity, multidimensionality, and multileveled nature of the concept of well-being have resulted in numerous objective and subjective indexes at the micro and macro levels. The aim of the article is to assess and measure the well-being of Iranian elderly using the Age-Watch index. Methods & Materials The method of the study was a secondary analysis of various data sources using Excel and SPSS v. 25 software in the methodological framework of the Global AgeWatch index. This method assesses the well-being of Iranian older adults at the national and provincial levels for 2016. The index provides a holistic view of older people's lives in four dimensions included income security, health status, capability, and the enabling environment. Results The results indicated the significant provincial differences in the AgeWatch index and its various dimensions, especially income security, and health status. The AgeWatch index scores ranged from 6.5 in Sistan and Baluchestan province to 77.9 in Tehran province. In general, the highest rank goes to the provinces of Tehran, Semnan, and Fars, respectively, and the lowest rank goes to the provinces of South Khorasan, Ilam and Sistan and Baluchistan, respectively. The results showed a significant correlation between AgeWatch index and human development index in Iran. In addition, the results showed Iran is ranked 64th among 97 countries in AgeWatch index. Iran was the best in terms of health status (43rd) and worst in terms of capacity dimension (88th). Conclusion Economic and social policies supporting the employment, income, health, and independence of older adults play an important role in increasing the well-being and welfare of older adults. Therefore, dimensions of financial security, such as the development of universal coverage of pensions and poverty reduction, as well as capacity dimension, such as providing elderly self-employment and promoting the education and training of the elderly, should be a policy priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]