Azerbaijan, Baku, April 9 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
As much as 11 percent of men in Iran married women older than themselves, according to the statistics from the first quarter of last Iranian calendar year, Fars reported.
A total of 224,000 marriages were registered in spring in Iran last year, and 25,000 men of the abovementioned figure married women older than themselves.
Among 25,000 men, the highest number of marriages fell to men marrying women older than themselves with only 1 year age difference (8,000).
Compared to the 2004 census, a number of men marrying older women has been gradually increasing.
Iranian sociologist Majid Abhari said that women tend to marry older men due to economic difficulties, such as rising house prices and inflation.
Iranian officials have been saying for the past several years, that the young people in the country do not want to get married.
Overall, the amount of marriages registered last year in Iran was lower by 10 percent, compared to the year before.
Last month, the director of Iran's Census Bureau, Ali Akbar Mahzun said that marriage in Iran's rural areas, villages, has dropped by 39,5 percent compared to last year.
"A 23.9 percent decrease in marriages was recorded in Kerman province, 18.9 percent in Yazn and 13.9 in Hormozgan," he said.
In total, he said that 726,390 marriages were recorded this Iranian calendar year (March 2013-March 2013), with 136,216 of them - in the rural areas.
Mahzun added that in urban areas the marriage growth has grown by 1.8 percent compared to last year.
"Overall, compared to last year, the marriage growth in the country has declined by 9.7 percent," he noted.