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90 percent of Iran population under poverty line: MP |
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Friday, 21 January 2005 |
Iran Focus
 Tehran, Jan. 21 - A member of Iran's Majlis (parliament) said today that at least 90 percent of the country's population is under the poverty line.
"90 percent of the population are living under the poverty line and only ten percent of the people have access to social services provided by the government", Mohammad Abbaspour said in an interview with a hardline state-run news agency.
"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.
"In the past 25 years … we have witnessed immense pressures in society, indicating social injustice. This phenomenon has led to the rise of social ills such as homeless tramps, higher divorce rates, poverty, and prostitution.
Abbaspour, a member of the Majlis Social Affairs Committee, blamed the government for turning a blind eye to pervasive corruption in Iran. |
