Half of Iranians live below the absolute poverty line, according to a report by the Iranian regime’s Eghtesad 24 website on March 2.
The report highlights the existence of a “broad class divide” in Iran, stating that “half of the Iranian population is below the absolute poverty line.”
Concurrently with the release of this report, discussions regarding the minimum wage for workers in Iran for the coming year continue.
In a situation where even official labor organizations are calling for an increase in the minimum wage to 250 million rials (approximately $420), Davood Manzour, the Vice President and head of the Planning and Budget Organization, stated on March 2 to the semiofficial ILNA news agency that “wages should increase in line with the country’s economic requirements and expected inflation.”
While this official did not provide further explanation, previously, Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, Soulat Mortazavi, had defended a 20% increase in the minimum wage for the next year. This comes as the current inflation rate is more than double the anticipated increase suggested by the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare for the coming year.
The Eghtesad 24 website noted, “Over the decades, the middle class in society has gradually disappeared, and financial constraints in the country have shifted individuals into the less privileged category.”
At present, the inflation rate is around 45%, and the monthly cost of living, according to labor unions affiliated with the government, is at least 250 million rials.
ILNA news agency reported a few days ago, based on “independent calculations,” that the cost of living for working-class households in major cities has reached 289 million rials (approximately $504).
According to the statistics center of Iran, inflation for food has been “145%” over three consecutive years from September 2020 to September 2023.
This is happening while the minimum wage for married workers with children is around 80 million rials (approximately $135). However, this wage is not paid in workplaces and companies that are exempt from labor law.
Referring to a 2018 research report from the parliament, Eghtesad 24 added, “Between 23% to 40% of the total population of Iran live below the poverty line, according to the same center’s report in October 2020, and due to reports and the unprecedented approach to the fall of the value of Iran’s currency, more than 60% of the total population of Iran live below the poverty line.”
The poverty line, in the sense of the minimum income level for leading a normal life, is what is considered as the threshold for poverty.
Eghtesad 24 added, “At the beginning of this year, with the exchange rate reaching more than 500,000 rials, the poverty line for living in Tehran exceeded 300 million rials. This figure is estimated to be 157 million rials for rural households in Tehran province. Based on this calculation, half of the Iranian population is below the absolute poverty line.”
The website pointed out that the 300 million rial poverty line in Tehran means that “if we consider the minimum price of renting a 60-square-meter house in central Tehran in the best possible condition to be 3 to 5 billion rials (approximately $5,000 to $8,400) and monthly expenses of 100 to 150 million rials (approximately $168 to $252), we will find that almost half of that 300 million will be spent on housing each month.”
According to this report, a family with two earners earning more than 150 million rials should spend half of it on rent and the other half on other necessities for an average life. This is happening while Iranians receive their wages in rials but often deal with expenses in dollars.
In conclusion, the report states that an overview of the last two years shows that the dollar exchange rate has increased from about 260,000 rials to 570,000 rials, gold coins from about 110 million rials to over 300 million rials, the prices of chicken, meat, and cars have more than doubled, liquidity has increased from 37 to 61 trillion rials, and the average housing price has risen from 300 million rials per square meter to over 700 million rials. It considers this a “worrying trend” that “paints a picture of the end of the absolute economic power of the people in the not-too-distant future.”
