Source: Post Gazette/The Wall Street Journal
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06037/651082.stm
On February 6, 2006 The Wall Street Journal reported, "After trying for four years to have a baby, Khorshed Bulsara called on her fellow Zoroastrians for help. She tapped into a new fertility clinic whose mission is to save one of the world's oldest religions... There are fewer than 200,000 Zoroastrians in the world, experts say. Most are in India and Iran, the religion's birthplace. The numbers are clearly dwindling in India. According to the 2001 census -- the latest figures available -- India's Parsi population had fallen to 69,601 from 76,382 a decade earlier. To replenish their ranks, followers of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, who is thought to have lived about 3,500 years ago, are extolling not just the modern benefits of fertility clinics but also those of Internet dating. The high-technology push to connect and reproduce Parsis comes as education and work opportunities pull a younger generation into the global work force, delaying love, marriage and children. Like other ethnic groups, Parsis in India are trying to adapt to a changing world without changing too much themselves... For many Parsis, the aim also is to marry someone who shares the same culture and is familiar with the religion."