One-fifth of Iran's population is "marginalized"
The Deputy Director of Rural Affairs of the Iranian Municipalities and Rural Affairs Organization announced that one-fifth of Iran's population lives in marginalized areas.
According to ISNA, Saeed Reza Jandaghian said on Tuesday, July 8, that according to official statistics, there are about 11 million 370 thousand people, but the real number is much higher and today 16 million, equivalent to one-fifth of the country's population, are marginalized.
Previously, a member of parliament had announced that due to inflation in 2018, a total of one million people had been added to the number of marginalized people in Iran.
The statistics provided by Iranian authorities regarding marginalization are contradictory. Among these statistics, we can mention Rasoul Hadari, a member of parliament, who stated that the number of marginalized people in Iran is 17 million.
However, in August 2018, Farid Barati, deputy director of prevention and treatment at the Iranian Welfare Organization's treatment center, said that there are "19 million marginalized people and about 3,000 marginalized areas" in Iran.
Despite all the statistical inconsistencies, what is certain is the increase in the number of marginalized people in recent years, which official statistics have confirmed.
Saeed Reza Jandaghian, Deputy Minister of Rural Affairs of the Iranian Municipalities and Rural Affairs Organization, also pointed out today a 15 percent decrease in gross rural production in the agricultural sector in the country, saying: Gross agricultural production from rural areas has exceeded 25 percent for the past 25 years, but this figure has decreased to about 10.2 percent at the end of 2016.
Source: Voice of America
