Following two decades of population control policies, Iran is now facing an unprecedented decline in birth rates, a phenomenon that brings widespread implications for the nation's national power and defense foundations. This study aims to examine the impact of population on the formation of national power. The research methods employed include an analysis of scientific sources using a contextual approach, as well as content analysis with both in-depth and broad perspectives. The research is applied in nature, with the statistical population consisting of books and articles that assess national power and propose relevant formulas or models. Data collection was carried out through library research and note-taking from references.
The findings reveal that across all models for assessing national power, population is recognized as one of the main components, holding the highest significance coefficient. A decrease in population can directly undermine national power. Therefore, given national and international forecasts indicating Iran’s rapidly aging population and the decline of its active workforce in the coming years, there is a clear and urgent need for strategic policymaking and fundamental solutions to address the drop in fertility rates and prevent a looming demographic crisis.