Tehran, Iran (Associated Press)-Iran launched a matchmaking application on Monday aimed at promoting marriages in the country. According to official media reports, the country’s authorities are concerned about the divorce rate.

A cultural institution affiliated with the Iranian government has launched an app called Hamdam or “Companion”. It said the app will help young people find suitable partners for “sustainable marriages.”

According to reports, there are 13 million young singles in Iran-defined as 18-35 years old. In 2019, the country reported more than 170,000 divorces and approximately 520,000 marriages.

Finding single partners and online consultation are one of the features of this app. Officials said the app also plays a role of social and psychological counseling.

At the inauguration ceremony, the Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf stated that the app will help young people by using modern scientific methods.

Komeil Khojasteh, director of the Tebyan Cultural Institute, which developed the app, said that millions of single young people live in this country with a population of 80 million, and “increasing divorce rate and decreasing number of marriages” are one of Iran’s main problems.

Khojasteh said that the institute had provided a website with similar functions in the past, but the application was designed to serve more people.

This move is part of the government’s efforts to avoid an aging population. Iranian officials have long called for an increase in the population because hardliners believe this is the result of Western culture and social influence.

The number of births in Iran in 2019 was approximately 1.2 million, down from 1.52 million in 2016. The birth rate in 2019 was 1.8 children per mother, lower than the 2.07 children in 2017.

More than half of the Iranian population is under the age of 35, and premarital sex is illegal.