Director of Iran's National Youth Organization, Morteza Mir-Baqeri, on Sunday cautioned about an increasing threat of organized "lumpenism" among Iranian youth, and called for measures to prevent the dilemma, IRNA reported from Tehran.

The Persian-language daily `Iran' on Monday quoted Mir-Baqeri as saying that the Iranian youth are showing a growing fondness for drug addiction, rebellion and wrongdoing, stressing that this could lead to lumpenism organized by outside elements.

He cited certain statistics that indicate the Iranian youth are easily affected by factors that foment social maladies, and stressed that the officials must devise modalities to prevent the outbreak of possible social crises in a "not too far future".

Mir-Baqeri said figures show that 2.5 percent of Iranian youth are inclined toward addiction, 3.16 percent toward wrongdoing, and 3.01 percent toward rebellion.

He further said that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is threatening the society like a "clock bomb", stressing that the disease is growing in an algorithm pattern in the country.

Mir-Baqeri highlighted the need for the media to be transparent in reporting on the epidemic, and to teach the population the ways to prevent the disease.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the official said 80 percent of Iran's younger population -- the world's second largest after Jordan -- are single, and that 28 percent of the total are unemployed.

Mir-Baqeri said 80 percent of the youth who are employed receive a monthly salary of less than rials 1,000,000 (Dlrs 125).

He said the average marriage age for male youth in Iran currently stands at 26.5 years, and 23.5 years for the females.

... Payvand News - 4/28/03 ... --