Kayhan London: Recent studies have shown that 26 percent of the country’s population suffers from mental illness, according to Deputy Minister of Health and Medical Education Dr. Hadi Ayazi.
Speaking at a medical seminar in the city of Sari, capital of the northern province of Mazandaran, Dr. Ayazi said: “Currently 16 percent of women and 12 percent of men in Iran struggle with some type of psychological disorder.”
According to Dr. Ayazi, poverty, unemployment, and discrimination are the underlying causes of emotional and psychological problems in Iranian society. He also pointed out that 2.9 percent of the country’s population were seniors. “That number will rise to 30 percent in the next 30 years, putting Iran among the countries with the largest aging population,” Dr. Ayazi noted.
Translated from Persian by Fardine Hamidi
