Iran Poverty Rate Reached Over 30% Since 2018

Iran’s Parliament Research Center says the country's poverty rate has reached over 30% since 2018.

According to the report released on Tuesday, in 2021, the population below the absolute poverty line in the country increased to 30.4%.

Based on the report, unemployment, lack of a higher education degree, having children and being a tenant are among the factors that increase poverty in the country.

The report shows that Iran's economic situation has been deteriorating long before the global sanctions hit the country's economy.

According to a report published by ILNA in January, one-third of the country’s population is now living in extreme poverty, after the number almost doubled in one year from 2020 to 2021. However, it is believed that the number could in reality be far higher. 

According to official figures released by the interior ministry, around 60 percent of the 84 million Iranians live under the relative poverty line of whom between 20 to 30 million live in "absolute poverty".

Economic failures of the regime are becoming more and more difficult to justify, even given US sanctions. "The main reason for the [economic] problems [in the past ten years] is not just the sanctions. A major part of these were caused by wrong decisions and inefficiency," Supreme leader Ali Khamenei admitted in a speech last year.