Head of the Welfare Committee: 11 Million Iranians Live Below the Poverty Line

Parviz Fattah, the head of Iran's Welfare Committee, has predicted that considering this year's minimum wage of 812,000 tomans, "11 million people from Iran's population" are living below the poverty line. Mr. Fattah emphasized on Saturday night, March 7, during a television program, that it is not possible to specify exactly how many people are below the poverty line, but if we consider this year's minimum wage of 812,000 tomans, it can be said that based on that, 11 million people in the country are below the poverty line. The minimum monthly wage for workers this year has been set at 812,000 tomans. Meanwhile, labor organizations deem this amount insufficient, stating that this wage covers the expenses of working-class families for only eight days. According to these organizations, the cost of living exceeds three million tomans per month. In this regard, Abolfazl Fathollahi, the vice president of the Supreme Council of Labor Associations in Iran, mentioned on December 2 that "the latest figure for the cost basket of working-class households, without considering the poverty line, is 2,800,000 tomans" and said, "Considering the poverty line, this figure rises to over three million tomans." The protests from labor organizations come at a time when several employer organizations have pointed out in recent years that due to economic problems, they are unable to pay higher wages. This argument has always been rejected by labor organizations and activists, who emphasize the necessity of implementing Article 41 of the Labor Law. According to two clauses of this article, the determination of the minimum monthly wage for workers must be based on the inflation rate and the monthly living costs of a household. According to ISNA, the head of the Welfare Committee stated in another part of his remarks that "some consider the minimum wage to be 1,200,000 tomans" and added that in that case, "the number of people below the poverty line would increase. Therefore, it is not possible to accurately determine the number of needy individuals or those below the poverty line who require assistance from supportive institutions." His remarks came at a time when Ali Akbar Sayyari, the deputy minister of health, treatment, and medical education, stated on August 20 in a meeting of the National Youth Affairs Headquarters that 30% of the Iranian population "is hungry and has no bread to eat." According to official statistics, Iran's population exceeds 80 million, and based on Mr. Sayyari's statements, more than 25 million Iranians "have no bread to eat." According to ISNA, Parviz Fattah mentioned the "two and a half-fold increase in the pensions of the Welfare Committee's beneficiaries" and said, "This resolution has been approved in the Joint Commission {of Parliament}, but for final and definitive approval, it must also be passed in the open session of Parliament." He added that if approved, "the pensions of beneficiaries will increase by 2 to 2.5 percent." The head of the Welfare Committee stated that these pensions "start from 53,000 tomans for a single person and go up to 100,000 tomans for families of five." He added, "Accordingly, the average payments for each household will be 72,000 tomans monthly, and if this resolution is approved, the average pension will reach 180,000 tomans per month for each household, which is equivalent to 20% of the minimum wage set by the Ministry of Labor." Parviz Fattah also mentioned that in the Fifth Development Plan, it was targeted that the pensions of the Welfare Committee and the Welfare Organization would increase to 50% of the minimum wage set by the Ministry of Labor and added, "However, this figure was high, and we could not implement it." He noted that there are 1.6 million households receiving pensions from the Welfare Committee, and about 400,000 households also benefit from the services of this supportive institution on a case-by-case basis. The head of the Welfare Committee estimated the number of beneficiaries at 4 million people. In this context, "millions of people" in Iran are involved in social harms, the Minister of Interior quoted Khamenei: social harms should have been closely monitored 20 years ago, "30%" of the Iranian population lives in urban areas with disordered structures, warning from two ministers about the increase in poverty, suicide, addiction, and depression, labor organizations have called for improvements in workers' living conditions.