Living conditions and ideal number of children in Tehran, Iran

Information about ideal number of children enhances the development of realistic and effective population polices. This study aimed to estimate ideal number of children contingent on actual and ideal living conditions among young married individuals.
The study was based on representative data from the 2012 Tehran Survey of Fertility Intentions (n= 2267), conducted in the population of married women and men aged under 36 years who lived in the 22 districts of Tehran, Iran. Ideal numbers of children in actual and ideal living conditions were estimated for the study population and socio-economic sub-groups of the population.
According to the results, the ideal number of children in actual and ideal living conditions were reported 1.6 and 2.2 children respectively. The ideal number of children declined with the rise of education, age at marriage, income, and being less religous. The ideal number of children varied by place of residence, where those lived in the southern districts of the city of Tehran reported higher number of ideal number for children.
The results of this study suggest that the ideal number of children of young couples is affected by their living conditions. So, the success of any pronatalist population polices depends on the improvement of couples’ living conditions.