A/HRC/25/26 standards contributed to a rise in life expectancy for both women and men, to 73.2 and 70.5, respectively.47 A need to absorb the younger generation into the labour market has placed pressure on the economy and resulted in an estimated overall unemployment rate of 12.4 per cent (19.6 per cent for women) in 2013. Official unemployment rates are much higher for young people (22.3 per cent for young men, 42.7 per cent for young women early in 2013). The search for better job opportunities underlies the increasing challenge of migration and rapid urbanization among the population.48 33. The birth rate has decreased within a short time, dropping from 6.6 births per woman in 1977 to 2 births per woman in 2000 and to 1.8 births per woman in 2011 – that is, to under replacement level. Alarmed about this decrease in fertility, which is leading to an ageing population, the Supreme Leader encouraged families to have more children. He also called for mechanisms which would encourage procreation in the country. In a reaction to the Leader’s speech, the Ministry of Health announced that contraceptives, which used to be given out free of charge, would no longer be procured. 34. The Secretary-General provided a detailed account of the impact of sanctions on the general population in his report to the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly. Developments regarding the recent lifting of some economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran are being followed closely, with the hope that these steps will ease the impact of sanctions that chiefly affect the general population, particularly the distribution of medical and pharmaceutical supplies. The Secretary-General will assess recent developments further and will report on this in detail in his report to the sixty-ninth session of the Assembly. III. Cooperation with international human rights mechanisms and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights A. Cooperation with the United Nations human rights treaty system 35. As a State party to five core international human rights treaties49 and a signatory to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Islamic Republic of Iran has improved its cooperation with treaty bodies in recent years. It was examined by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (August 2010), the Human Rights Committee (October 2011) and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (May 2013).50 During the latest review, the latter Committee raised some of the same issues it had in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s first review, which had taken place 18 years before, noting that this had prevented it from maintaining a regular dialogue with the country. 36. The Secretary-General notes with regret the Islamic Republic of Iran’s lack of cooperation with the Human Rights Committee, which has repeatedly sought further 47 48 49 50 Statistical Centre of Iran, 2011 Population and Housing Census. Ibid., Statistical Yearbook of Iran (2009); and Summary Report of the Labour Force Survey (2009). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. While considering the second periodic report of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Committee noted with regret the delay in submission of the report, following its previous consideration in 1993 and requested the Islamic Republic of Iran to submit its third periodic report by 31 May 2018. The Committee also regretted that the State party did not provide adequate responses to some of the questions posed by the Committee. 13