A Study: Iran’s Population Below Poverty Line Has Doubled in Three Years

An economic expert, pointing to the severe increase in poverty in Iran over a short period, says one-quarter of the population are marginalized. The deputy minister of labor recently predicted Iran’s population below the poverty line will reach 30 million by the end of this year.

Farshad Momeni, head of the Institute for Religious and Economic Studies, warns that the rapid increase in Iran’s population below the poverty line has reached a “shocking” stage, referring to recent research.

The ISNA news agency reported on Monday, November 1, that this professor of economics at Allameh Tabatabai University, in a meeting with managers and some researchers from the Institute for Higher Social Security Research, referring to the institute’s report on “the unfavorable state of poverty in villages,” described the situation in rural areas as more severe than urban areas.

He added: “It is said that every poverty-causing policy that is placed on the agenda, although it may initially seem stagnant and apparently have no effect on rural society, the results show that rural communities are more vulnerable to these policies.”

Poverty and the Worrying Depopulation of Rural Areas

Momeni says that over the past decade, we have witnessed the rural CPI index exceed the urban index more than five times, and if this happened anywhere in the world, they would be concerned because this index indicates matters that “shake the foundation of national security and make development impossible.”

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) represents changes in the price of consumer goods and services purchased in the household shopping basket, which, taking into account other factors such as wage increases, can provide a picture of the living conditions of citizens.

The professor at Tabatabai University’s School of Economics calls the increase in depopulated villages alarming and says that during the main wave of land reforms in the previous regime, only the rural population and active workforce migrated and their connection and solidarity with the village was not severed, but now we are facing “the phenomenon of complete village depopulation.”

30 Million Iranians in Absolute Poverty

According to ISNA, Momeni said in another part of his remarks: “Research results, particularly the study of the Institute for Higher Social Security Research, show that in the three-year period from 2017 to 2020, the population below the poverty line more than doubled, and this requires serious discussions and we must examine what factors created the conditions for this shock!?”

The Welfare Deputy of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare announced on the 30th of Mehr, based on this research, that by the end of last year, 26 million Iranians were living in absolute poverty.

This deputy stated that given price increases, disproportionate wage growth, and unemployment of approximately 2 million people due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is estimated that the population below the absolute poverty line will increase to 30 million by year-end.

Marginalization of One-Quarter of the Population

The head of the Institute for Religious and Economic Studies, stating that Iranian society has become very vulnerable in various ways, added that one of these aspects is marginalization, and currently the percentage of the marginalized population is exceeding 25 percent of the country’s total population.

Environmental crises, which are often exacerbated by mismanagement and inefficiency of officials, unemployment, poverty, and severe increases in rent are among the factors that constantly push more people to the outskirts of cities.

Regarding the increase in poverty in recent years, numerous reports have been published, and their repetition in a short time frame reveals the critical nature of the situation and the deterioration of living conditions for a large section of citizens.

The deputy for social affairs and crime prevention of Tehran’s judiciary recently reported an increase in waste picking at the capital level and said at least 4,500 children, adolescents, and adults are engaged in this activity.

The Speed of Poverty Growth is Unprecedented in the Past Century

Meanwhile, officials from the waste management organization report a noticeable reduction in wet waste in the first six months of this year, and some experts attribute this to reduced purchasing power and decreased consumption of food items.

Farshad Momeni believes that this manner of population surge below the poverty line is unprecedented in Iran’s more than 100-year history and therefore it is necessary to address it from dozens of angles.

The Ministry of Labor recently released a report according to which meat and rice consumption has averaged halved over the past decade and dairy consumption has also noticeably decreased.

According to the Statistical Center of Iran’s report, point-to-point inflation in October of this year was slightly over 39 percent, and the price of some food items such as rice, poultry, fish, and red meat increased nearly 50 percent compared to the same month last year.

Source: DW