Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s security institutions, reviewed the economic events of the past two decades and reported that since 2018, the pace of poverty has accelerated, with an increasing number of employed individuals falling into poverty.
Tasnim emphasized that the economic conditions are such that the workforce, which serves as the engine of the country’s productivity, is abandoning labor jobs and turning to other occupations, many of which are informal or precarious jobs. Labor activists have repeatedly sounded the alarm, warning that this marks the beginning of a growing wave of poverty across the country.
Tasnim, citing Zahra Kaviani, a member of the Research Center of the Iranian Parliament, wrote: “Since 2006, the poverty rate has been gradually rising, reaching around 20% by 2011.”
According to Kaviani, the estimated poverty line for a family of three in Tehran in 2024 is around 200 million rials (approximately $334). Tasnim compared this figure with the minimum wage for workers in 2024, which is 111 million and 70 thousand rials (about $186), noting that efforts to reduce the poverty rate have been unsuccessful.
In this context, Ahmad Meidari, the Minister of Labor, also stated that those living in absolute poverty are employed, but their income is insufficient to meet their needs.
In a research seminar on poverty, Zahra Kaviani also noted, “The likelihood of escaping poverty has diminished, meaning we have witnessed a decline in poverty mobility. In the past four years, about 50% of the poor have remained below the poverty line for three consecutive years.”
Kaviani explained that a family living below the poverty line may reduce its expenses, such as children’s expenses, and try to compensate the following year. However, a family that remains below the poverty line for several consecutive years may decide that their child should drop out of school or become a child laborer, which ultimately leads to intergenerational poverty.
Farshad Esmaeili, a lawyer and social security expert, also reported the feminization of poverty in society, stating that more than 50% of female heads of households are in the first and second income deciles, with 75% supporting one to three people, and 70% of them have no social activity.
On Sunday, September 15, Shargh newspaper wrote, “The continuation of income poverty not only causes harm on its own and has social consequences, but it also spills over into multidimensional poverty, turning children who drop out of school into the future poor.”
Shargh emphasized in its report that “this deepens the cycle of poverty and leads to intergenerational poverty; thus, it is expected that if the situation continues, we will see an increase in the number of poor people in the future, along with a worsening of their living conditions.”
