Iran International
Iran’s economy is now defined by a widening gulf between rich and poor and the rapid disappearance of the middle class, with a constant stream of corruption scandals adding to the daily hardship millions already face.
Nearly 40 million Iranians now live below the relative poverty line, according to labor officials, including seven million in absolute poverty—people who would still face malnutrition even if they spent all their income on food.
Bread provides more than 40% of daily calories for low-income families, yet prices of bread and cereals, set by the government, have almost doubled in a year.
Meanwhile, the real dollar value of workers’ wages has collapsed from about $500 in 2015 to less than $160 today.
“The gap between the rich and the poor is now so wide that the middle class is effectively disappearing,” economist Ali Ghanbari told moderate outlet Fararu.
‘National crisis’
Faramarz Toufighi of the Labour Councils told ILNA that real food inflation surpassed 90% in October, warning that the minimum wage covers “not even one-third of workers’ basic living costs.”
The business site Eghtesad24 highlighted the figure and amplified the alarm, writing that a misstep in setting next year’s wages could trigger “a national crisis.”
Economist Hossein Raghfar told Etemad that even the most optimistic wage proposals—up to a 35% rise—will do nothing to restore purchasing power.
“For more than three decades, wage hikes have lagged behind inflation,” he said. “Workers and public employees are effectively subsidizing the state by earning less than the cost of living.”
Raghfar criticised the government for claiming it lacks funds for higher wages while “injecting vast sums into the stock market, spending foreign currency reserves on luxury imports, and sparing large corporations from fair taxes.”
‘Fighting for survival’
The financial daily Eghtesad News warned that the official poverty line “has become a political slogan,” noting that people judge reality by supermarket prices, rent, and school fees—not by government claims.
Labour expert Hamid Haj-Esmaeili told the paper that the average wage is roughly 170 million rials (about $155), while the average household now needs at least three times that to get by.
Ali Dehghan-Kia, head of the Tehran Retired Workers’ Association, told Etemad that the wage–inflation gap has stripped families of purchasing power.
Retirees, he said, face “a survival crisis” in food, housing and healthcare. “If this continues, the social consequences will be severe.”
Chronic corruption
Raghfar has long warned of what he calls the “São Paulo-ization” of Iran’s economy—extreme wealth concentrated in a small elite while the majority sink deeper into poverty. He told Khabar Online this week that rising poverty is inseparable from corruption in the banking sector.
The collapse of Ayandeh Bank, absorbed into a state entity after going insolvent, is “just the beginning,” he said, predicting similar outcomes for other private banks.
Britain sanctioned Ayandeh’s owner, Ali Ansari, in October for allegedly financing the Revolutionary Guards. Foreign media estimate his London property holdings at about the same value as Iran’s entire annual anti-poverty budget—roughly $180 million.
“What makes this case more than personal … is the staggering contrast between a banker’s frozen wealth in London and the structural poverty inside Iran,” the labour news agency IONA wrote in an editorial.
“When a nation’s anti-poverty budget equals one man’s assets, the real question is no longer ‘where the money came from’ but ‘what kind of system made this possible.’”
Average monthly incomes now stand near $200, leaving millions unable to keep pace with food inflation. Many respondents said basic protein disappeared from their tables months ago.
“Our daily cost for five people is about 30,000,000 rials (around $27), not even counting meat, oil or rice,” one respondent said. “Our table has not just shrunk, it has been wiped out,” the message said.
Another described a timeline of disappearing foods: meat long ago, dairy a year ago, chicken six months ago, fruit four months ago. “It costs 1,000,000 rials (about $0.90) every time we buy bread. There is not much distance left until absolute hunger,” the person said.
One self-described employee earning 220,000,000 rials (around $195) a month and renting on a city’s outskirts said survival required queuing for subsidized poultry. “We removed meat from our diet at Nowruz because we were coming up short,” the message said.
Several said long-considered staples – Iranian rice, fish, nuts, fresh fruit and legumes – had become aspirations. “We eat only bread, yogurt and rice from morning to night,” another message said.
Health concerns mounting
In mid-October, domestic outlets reported that roughly 35 percent of recorded deaths were linked to undernutrition. Health ministry estimates say at least 10,000 people die each year from shortages of omega-3 fatty acids, another 10,000 from low fruit and vegetable intake, and about 25,000 from insufficient whole grains.
Shortages extend beyond food. “People are cutting doctor visits and medicine before anything else,” another respondent wrote. “We live on luck alone.”
One family of four said six months had passed since they last bought meat. “Life has become hard. My 16-year-old son left school to work, yet we still cannot cover daily needs,” the message said.
Another wrote that the essentials most families consider the heart of a meal – red meat, chicken and fish – were now out of reach. “If this government continues, the rest will disappear too, whether we like it or not,” the person said.
Many described a shift to cheaper staples. “Everything has been removed from my basket: fruit, dairy, meat, legumes. The only things I can still manage, with difficulty, are Indian rice, eggs and potatoes,” one message said.
Middle-class erosion
Several respondents who once identified with the middle class said they were now buying fruit with difficulty. “We take four apples, some pears, persimmons, cucumbers and oranges – it reaches 20,000,000 rials (around $18). One kilo of meat is 15,000,000 rials (about $13),” a message said, calling the situation “frightening and broken.”
Travel – once a marker of modest stability – has vanished. “Red meat, chicken, fish, clothes and gold have become dreams. Travel is zero,” one person said.
Amid the accounts of vanished foods, one message pressed for solutions rather than surveys. “We need a way out, not a question whose answer we all already know,” the person said.
Independent labor and pensioner groups warned in a joint 21 October statement that worsening living conditions and unanswered demands were pushing more workers, teachers and retirees toward street-level protest. They wrote that daily demonstrations reflected a determination to “win rights and express grievances” despite the economic strain.
The broad concern running through the messages is not only what families can no longer buy, but how long they can endure a decline that has turned routine meals into calculations of survival.