The strategies behind the poverty Reduction in Iran and middle east

Morteza Aminmansour

The Strategies behind the poverty Reduction in IRAN and Middle East:
Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.
Poverty has been a constant feature of society throughout history. History shows that poverty has always existed in the lives of people. However, it is also a historical fact that although the majority of people have lived in poverty, the remaining minority has lived in luxury. This is also valid in today’s societies and nations. Again, while some countries, called first world countries, live in a very luxurious manner, the remaining countries, called third world countries, live in poverty. This also shows that poverty has been a social phenomenon and a serious problem in past and present history.
Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities
Population below poverty line (%):
Afghanistan 53%, Azerbaijan 49%, Armenia 34.6%, Turkey 20%, Turkmenistan 58%,
Syria 11.9%, In Iran Population below poverty line was: 40% (CIA World Fact book April 17,2007). .
The report states that there has been little progress in poverty reduction in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region since the mid 1980s. The slow growth can be at the origin of this lack of progress in poverty reduction.


Slow growth, has a social cost. In the region, average per capita income grew by only 1 percent per annum between 1985 and 2000. Roughly over the same period of time, the number of poor grew by 11.5 million to reach 52 million. This shows what happens when populations continue to grow, while economies don't.
Surprisingly, the lack of income growth did not constrain human development in MENA. While per capita incomes stagnated, health and education indicators improved tremendously. For example, between 1985 and 2000, literacy spread from 47 to 69 percent of the population, child mortality rates plunged from 108 per thousand to 46 per thousand, and average years of schooling rose from 3.2 to 5.4. Indeed, the region did better than its middle-income comparators over this period

There is reason to believe, that the gains in human indicators were due to a combination of factors including enhanced private spending and improvements in the delivery of public health and education services (for example IRAN). This is an encouraging finding. It suggests that, even in the absence of income growth, it is possible to improve health and education attainments through attention to public service delivery. It provides a strong empirical justification for the Bank's operational focus on such issue.
Labor supply depends on population—its age composition, gender composition, skill level, global distribution and migration patterns. The exhibit below examines labor supply trends by region for 1980 and 1999 and forecasts to 2015. Developing economies account for 74% of the global working age population and these economies’ labor forces are expected to expand very rapidly over the coming decade. Across the regions, the labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East North Africa is expected to increase by at least 2 percent per year. Population growth is the principal factor driving labor force growth and, while this has slowed in developing countries, the working age population continues to increase (as population growth slowdown only feeds through to a labor force slowdown with a lag.
In terms of jobs, the growth rates suggest the coming on stream of 35 to 40 million jobs each year in the developing world. The regional labor force growth rates translate into the net creation of some 7 million jobs per annum in Sub Saharan Africa, 23 million jobs in Asia and 100 million jobs in the Middle East (including Iran and neighboring countries) North Africa (Bourguignon, 2005 and World Bank, 2004). Failure to meet this challenge will result in increased unemployment and underemployment, declining wage rates and quality of jobs. These negative consequences, will primarily affect the youth segment of the population and the low skilled.
During the 1979-85 period, absolute poverty in IRAN increased by 40 percent; some reports indicated that absolute poverty had spread among as many as 65-75 percent of the population in 1988. According to the IMF, 53 percent of Iranians still live below the poverty line.
All of us are Iranian and wherever and in whatever post we are should try to elevate status of our dear country (Professor Majid Samee) and eliminate the poverty in our country. Iran belongs to all of us no matter what race or religion we have.
Health conditions outside major Iranian cities are poor. Many small towns and rural areas (Remote areas, such as Hormozgan, Sistan Baluchestan, Khorassan, Khozestan, Ilam and chahar mahal Bakhtiyari provinces suffer from unsanitary conditions and a shortage of medical personnel and facilities. The infant mortality rate remains a serious problem in IRAN; it is very high by world and Middle Eastern standards, although it has been reduced significantly (26 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1998, down from 91.6 during 1980-85 and 50 during 1991-95). Although primary education is compulsory for 5 years, many rural children never attend school because of either parental objection(financial problem of the families and using children as child labor ) or a lack of facilities(lack of money ). The secondary-school system in Iran is relatively underdeveloped, and it serves for the most part to prepare small numbers of students for university-level education. In order to improve the situation for the poorest segments of Iranian society, the government is considering an anti-poverty program comprising expanded provision of food, clothing, health care, education, social security, and bank credits to these people. .

In the Middle East and North Africa, the percentage of people living on less than $1 per day declined slightly, but the proportion living below $2 per day increased, from 25 to 30 percent of the population, because of increases in Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen.
SOURCE: United Nations. Human Development Report 2000; Trends in human development and per capita income.
GDP per Capita (US$)

Country
1975
1980
1985
1990
1998
Iran
1,611
1,129
1,208
1,056
1,275
United States
19,364
21,529
23,200
25,363
29,683
Saudi Arabia
9,658
11,553
7,437
7,100
6,516
Qatar
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
SOURCE: United Nations. Human Development Report 2000; Trends in human development and per capita income"In Iran the Ministry of Housing has built many accommodations but we must ask this ministry, how many of these constructions built are housing poor people", the Majlis deputy from Urumiyeh (northwest Iran) said.Abbaspour warned that Iran was becoming a country with vastly separated social classes. He said "In the past 25 years. The Country has witnessed immense pressures in society, indicating social injustice. This phenomenon has led to the rise of social ills such as homeless tramps in Big Cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Mashad, Kerman, Arak higher divorce rates, poverty, and prostitution.Abbaspour, a member of the Males Social Affairs Committee, blamed the government for turning a blind eye to pervasive corruption in Iran. We have to seek the root of the corruption first in Parliament and other government institutions. Ordinary Iranian are paying high price for these lawlessness and the middle class is disappearing from Iranian society in the next 5 or 10 years.

Sources: * Middle East and North Africa (: World Bank)
Poverty in Middle East and North Africa.
*Understanding Poverty (World bank)
Poverty in Traditional Islamic Thought: by Osman GÜNER
The World Bank Group: Income Poverty
IRAN FOCUS: Sep 26,07(Poverty in IRAN)