Official: Absolute poverty in Iran rises to 34%

Iranians come together to protest against the rise of living costs, unemployment and poverty on 28 December 2017 [Shahin Gobadi/Twitter]

Extreme poverty in Iran has risen and reached 34 per cent this year, the head of the workers group in the Iranian Shura Council Ali Ridha Mahjoub said.

“The rate of extreme poverty has increased twice as much as last year,” Mahjoub said in an interview with a local paper, pointing out that the rate of extreme poverty has rose from 17 per cent in 2017 to 34 per cent in 2018.

According to Mahjoub, people who receive a salary of less than $2 a day are classified as living in absolute poverty.

Iran entered recession this year after the US unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal signed in 2015 and reimposed sanctions on the oil rich state.

According to an IMF report released last week, Iran’s economy will contract by 1.5 per cent in 2018, with the trend continuing and increasing in 2019, shrinking by 3.5 per cent.

READ: Strike in Iran against ailing economic situation

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