[TritteTouff]

Iran President urges girls to marry at 16

AP



Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged girls to marry at the age of 16. He criticised the current average age of marriage of between 24 and 26, Iranian newspapers reported.

The Sunday report by the state-owned Jam-e Jam quoted Ahmadinejad as saying: "We should take the age of marriage for boys to 20 and for girls to about 16 and 17." Other newspapers quoted the president as putting the best ages for marriage of girls at 17 or 18.

There was no explanation on the discrepancy, which is typical of Iranian media. Ahmadinejad has long sought an increase in population, rejecting family planning as a Western concept. Critics said the policy would only make the current nine per cent official unemployment rate worse.