A member of the social committee of Iran regime’s parliament admitted: “Official statistics say that we have 11 million marginalized people living in slums, and if we also count worn-out places and settlements, the number reaches 19 million.”
Salman Khodadadi, in an interview with state-run Shafagnah, reiterated that, “Unfortunately, 19 million of our 85 million people live in a space where there are grounds for their deviations,” according to state-run media on April 7.
People living in slums is a social problem with unfortunate consequences for the society, which is the result of poverty and mismanagement and unemployment.
Slumming, the marginalized people who live in slums or living in sheds or thickets, is not only the source of great social dilemmas, such as stealing and promoting addiction, prostitution and illnesses for other members of the community, but directly affecting nearly a quarter of Iran’s people. Over 19 million people, twice as much as the entire population of Portugal, are marginalized and living in slums in Iran.
According to the reports by state-run media, the Iranian government is among the world’s richest governments and comparing the annual budget figures of the countries of the world shows that the revenues of the Iranian government are higher than many other countries.
However, the issue of poverty and marginalization in Iran, which affects a quarter of the country’s population, does not seem to be due to a shortage of wealth and resources.
The fact is that this high volume of slumming and rapid spread of poverty and deprivation in Iran is due to mismanagement, massive embezzlement and the billions of dollars expenditures on exporting fundamentalism and terrorism abroad squandering the country’s resources.
