As financial turmoil and inflation proceed to rise, Iranian households are turning to determined survival methods to make ends meet.
According to some sociologists, in occasions of stagflation (a poisonous mixture of inflation and financial stagnation), family incomes drop considerably, forcing households to mobilize all obtainable assets, together with sending ladies and even kids into the labor pressure.
Poverty/Iran/Kuala Lumpur
Reports point out worsening poverty and growing hardship for giant segments of the Iranian inhabitants. A fast improve in poverty has practically worn out Iran’s center class. Analysts estimate that just about two-thirds of the inhabitants now lives under the poverty line.
According to authorities knowledge, the inflation charge soared to 45.3% in September 2025, setting a brand new document.
This surge in inflation, mixed with a deepening recession and large-scale layoffs, is pushing extra folks under the poverty line and growing the variety of households residing in absolute poverty.
Analysis: Iranian employees are pushed into poverty by mass layoffs and low wages
Government aid efforts similar to money grants and ration playing cards have confirmed inadequate to satisfy primary wants.
As a consequence, households have resorted to excessive cost-cutting and income-generating measures. One worrying pattern is that growing numbers of youngsters are getting into the casual labor market, resulting in a pointy improve in class dropouts.
Housing sector knowledgeable Majid Gudarji mentioned in an interview with Tehran-based Serat News that the disaster is especially acute amongst tenants.
“Official authorities statistics present that poverty and absolute poverty are growing among the many nation’s rented inhabitants,” he mentioned.
“In some states, tenant poverty charges are as excessive as 80 to 90 p.c,” he added. “On common, 50 to 70 p.c of family revenue is spent on housing.”
Goodalji pressured the pressing want for complete housing insurance policies and stronger oversight to guard low-income households.
Many consultants argue that the federal government may have curbed inflation by reducing again on wasteful spending and adopting extra accountable fiscal insurance policies.
Iranians stroll by way of Tehran Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, September 27, 2025. Reuters/KL/File picture
Morteza Afgar, an economist and professor at Gondishapur University in Khuzestan, criticized the federal government’s response for the reason that US tightened sanctions in 2018 in an interview with Tehran-based Faral News.
“When sanctions minimize off oil revenues and a minimum of half of finances revenues had been misplaced, the federal government ought to have targeted on reducing pointless spending,” Afgha argued.
“Instead, it resorted to promoting state belongings, privatizing corporations, issuing bonds, and borrowing from Markazi Bank (Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran), successfully taking cash out of individuals’s pockets and exacerbating inflation.”
He additionally criticized using the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) as a short-sighted coverage.
“It’s about spending future generations’ revenue, utilizing up what we have already earned from oil gross sales,” he identified.
Afghaha questioned why finances cuts weren’t focused at inefficient or pointless state establishments.
“Rather than take care of ballooning spending, the federal government turned on to the central financial institution to fill the finances hole,” he defined.
Sociologist Hossein Imani Jajalmi mentioned in an interview with Tehran-based Eghtesad News that within the present financial local weather, survival usually means abandoning social taboos.
“When households cannot afford meals, they cross a line that they should not cross,” he says.
“We are seeing kids being despatched to work. There are even reviews of kid trafficking in deprived areas similar to Sistan, Baluchestan or southern Kerman.”
Jajarmi additionally identified that the variety of ladies getting into non-regular employment is growing.
“With divorce charges rising and kids generally residing with their moms, many ladies, usually with restricted schooling and abilities, are compelled to work within the casual sector, similar to road distributors or subway distributors. We lack enough help packages for these ladies,” he defined.
He argued that the failure of presidency support, the decline within the worth of subsidies, and the shortage of financial alternative are facilitating the normalization of those survival methods.
Mr Djajalmi criticized the federal government’s handouts and short-term support packages, saying:
“It’s like a home on hearth, and as an alternative of placing it out, we’re simply pouring water on it. We want actual welfare insurance policies that tackle city poverty, housing, schooling and employment.”
He warned that with out structural adjustments in financial coverage and redistribution of assets, city poverty will solely deepen.
“Local authorities initiatives could present short-term aid, however they will not clear up something in the long run. The elementary issues have to be resolved by way of critical reforms,” Jajalmi mentioned.
“These communities are usually not the identical as they had been 50 years in the past. They are conscious and more and more vocal. They don’t desire short-term support or symbolic motion. They need lasting change,” he concluded.