Iran: Hamdam, a government dating app to promote marriage
Woman in the streets of Tehran, June 20, 2021. On the Hamdam application, only men are active.
AFP - ATTA KENARE
Text by: Siavosh Ghazi
3 min
In Iran, the authorities have launched a dating application to promote marriage for young people and fight against the aging of the population.
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From our correspondent in Tehran
,
The app is called Hamdam.
In Persian, it means "companion" or "companion".
The peculiarity of this application is that, unlike dating sites in the West, its goal is to promote marriages.
To register, you must fill out a form indicating in particular your religious beliefs.
This information is verified before applicants see their name on the application.
► To read also: Summer series: the situation of women in Iran
Another difference compared to Western dating sites, and not the least: on Hamdam, only men can be active.
If a man shows interest in a woman, those responsible for the application contact the woman for a marriage.
Combating the decline in marriage and the birth rate
Objective: to promote
the marriage
of young people to combat the fall in the number of marriages and the birth rate.
The number of new marriages has been decreasing every year for the past ten years, and the number of divorces is on the rise.
Likewise, the birth rate is dropping sharply and according to experts, the Iranian population is aging at a very high speed.
Last March, Parliament passed a law to grant aid to young people who get married.
A few days ago, the conservative daily
Kayhan
even affirmed the need to take binding measures against single people in order to promote marriage.
A state television official called for television series to feature families with more than four children to encourage births.
The fact remains that the economic crisis, in particular inflation of nearly 50% and unemployment, dissuades and prevents many young people from getting married.
Mentalities are also changing.
According to a new study, for every 120 young men who want to marry, only 100 young girls are ready for marriage.
Statistics report that 10 million young people are currently waiting to get married, out of a population of over 80 million.
Above all, relations between young girls and boys have become largely liberalized, especially in the big cities.
The meetings are done via social networks, in particular Instagram or Clubhouse.
It is difficult in these conditions to imagine that the Hamdam application will meet with great success.
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