Alabama, Iran and Zimbabwe have something in common

This post is a bit off topic, but we found it to be a shocker.

A new Gallup poll shows that Alabama, Iran and Zimbabwe have similar percentages of religious people. The percentages were 82 percent for Alabama, 83 percent for Iran, and 81 percent for Zimbabwe.

How this relates to poverty is that the Gallup poll findings show a correlation between religion and income. This AFP article that we found in Google News allows Gallup to explain the link.

"Eight of the 11 countries in which almost all residents (at least 98 percent) say religion is important in their daily lives are poorer nations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia," the report said.

The poverty rate in Alabama was 17 percent in 2007, according to the US Census Bureau, while World Bank statistics show around 20 percent of Iranians live in poverty.

In Zimbabwe, a country where the economy has been plummeting for a decade and inflation is running at several billion percent annually, at least 80 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

Also giving weight to the analysts' theory is the fact that the most religious US state, Mississippi, is also the poorest.

Eighty-five percent of Mississippians say religion is a key part of daily life, according to the poll, for which 1,000 adults each were interviewed in 143 countries between 2006 and 2008.

One in five Mississippians live in poverty, US Census data shows.

"On the opposite end of the spectrum, the 10 least religious countries studied include several with the world's highest living standards, including Sweden... and Japan," the report said.

Religion was a key part of daily life for 17 percent of Swedes and 25 percent of Japanese.

One in five Iranians live below poverty line: report

from Africasia

Some stats and figures on Iran. - Kale

At least 14 million Iranians live below the poverty line, according to a central bank report quoted by the press on Monday, adding to concern about the welfare of those worst off in Iran as prices soar.

The central bank figures, published in the reformist daily newspaper Sarmayeh, represent one in five of Iran's 70 million population.

"If an urban family of four makes less than four millions rials (425 dollars) a month then the family is under poverty line," it said.

In August last year, Social Security and Welfare Minister Abdolreza Mesri said around 9.2 million people were living in poverty, 10.5 percent of the population in cities and 11 percent in villages.

Mesri also said that two million people live in extreme poverty in Iran, earning less than 650,000 rials (70 dollars) a month.

The latest figures come amid increasing concern over soaring prices in Iran, which have hit the poor and state employees on low incomes particularly hard. Teachers, for example, earn less than 300 dollars a month.

Since Iranian new year in March, the prices of basic foodstuffs, especially fresh vegetables and poultry, as well as services such as taxis have jumped.

Iran's inflation rate -- which has aroused much criticism of the economic policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- topped 26 percent in June, according to the central bank.

Ahmadinejad has been blamed by many economists for directly fuelling the price rises by ploughing huge amounts of cash into the economy to fund local infrastructure projects.

The government insists, however, that it has inflation under control and that booming oil receipts allow it to splash out on necessary infrastructure projects.

Iran, the second biggest oil exporter in OPEC, last year enjoyed oil revenues of 60 billion dollars in the last Iranian year to March.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Senior Iran cleric says president spreads poverty

from Reuters UK

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN - An influential Iranian cleric has criticised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in unusually blunt terms by saying his government was pursuing policies that were leading to "public impoverishment", newspapers said on Monday.

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a political rival of Ahmadinejad, called on the government to rein in populist spending policies largely blamed for fuelling inflation that is now running at more than 20 percent.

Ahmadinejad swept to power in 2005 vowing to spread Iran's oil wealth. Benefiting from soaring world oil prices, he has won applause by announcing big handouts at provincial rallies but ordinary Iranians now gripe about the price rises that followed.

Rafsanjani, head of a powerful arbitration body, has tended to criticise the government in indirect terms in the past but his latest criticism of Ahmadinejad's management used uncharacteristically straightforward language.

"Building Iran's economy cannot be possible by spreading public impoverishment," Rafsanjani was quoted on Monday as saying by the pro-reform Etemad-e Melli newspaper.

Rafsanjani, president in the 1990s, was beaten in the 2005 presidential election by Ahmadinejad. Rafsanjani is not expected to run again but his comments show that rival political camps are starting to stake out positions for the 2009 race.

His remarks reflect widespread public disillusionment with inflation and unemployment in the country, where over 15 million Iranians live in poverty according to official figures.

Despite mounting criticism, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has several times given vocal support to Ahmadinejad, backing that will be vital in the 2009 race, analysts say.

Ahmadinejad accuses political opponents and the outgoing conservative-dominated parliament of sabotaging plans to get the economy going. He says foreign "enemies" have undermined the economy and has declared war on economic "mafias".

RELYING ON OIL

Rafsanjani, a pragmatic politician who has been siding with reformists seeking political and social change, said the government was doing harm by casting aside competent officials.

"Many experienced people have been replaced by inexperienced employees. They (the government) think whoever takes major steps ... is an aristocrat or a wealthy anti-revolutionary," he said.

Ahmadinejad has shaken up government offices while in power, appointing dozens of former colleagues from the Revolutionary Guards and Tehran City Council to fill posts. He has scrapped some technocratic bodies, like a nationwide budget planning authority, moves critics say have given him greater control.

Critics say Ahmadinejad has often defied conventional economics by, for example, talking about controlling price rises while calling for interest rates to be set well below inflation.

Central Bank Governor Tahmasb Mazaheri, appointed in September, has publicly criticised Ahmadinejad over interest rate policy. The former governor had similar differences with the president.

Rafsanjani, a pillar of the 1979 Islamic revolution, has said Iran needs to liberalise its oil-dominated and sclerotic economy although, when he was president, Rafsanjani was accused of lining the pockets of the rich and ignoring the poor.

"We can stop relying on oil exports ... But this year's (ending on March 20, 2009) budget has become 15 percent more reliant on the oil," Rafsanjani said.

Economists say Iran is increasingly relying on its own financial resources because U.S. and U.N. sanctions are deterring Western investors in particular. Many foreign banks are reining back business with Iran or cutting ties completely.

More than 13 percent under poverty line in oil-rich Iran

from Persian Journal

The resignations of the two ministers came at a time when Iran's economy is experiencing problems with double-digit inflation, poverty and high unemployment.

Ahmadinejad was elected on a platform letting all Iran's population feel the benefits of its oil wealth but poverty remains a major problem in the Islamic republic.

More than 13 percent of Iranians live under the poverty line, a government minister was quoted as saying last week, amid increasing concern about the welfare of the worst-off in the country.

"Around 9.2 million people are living under the poverty line. That means 10.5 percent of people in cities and 11.0 percent in villages", Social Security and Welfare Minister Abdolreza Mesri said.

Iran's population is 70.4 million, according to the most recent census, which was carried out last year.

The Sarmay� newspaper quoted the minister as telling Parliament's Social Affairs Committee that two million of the poor live in extreme poverty, meaning that they earn less than 650,000 rials (70 dollars) a month.

Mesri's comments come amid increasing concern over rising prices in Iran, which have especially hit the worst-off and state employees on low incomes. Teachers, for example, earn less than 300 dollars a month.

Since the Iranian New Year in March the prices of basic foodstuffs, especially fresh vegetables and poultry, as well as services such as taxis have jumped higher. The central bank has forecast that inflation will reach 17 percent in the current Iranian year to March 2008, compared with an official rate of 13.5 percent last year.

But many economists dispute this figure, and Iranian parliamentary research has estimated that inflation this year is running at 22.4 percent on the back of money supply growth of a colossal 40 percent.

In June, a respected former prime minister, Mir Hossein Moussavi, made a rare public statement warning that increased poverty was threatening the basis of the Islamic republic.

A group of more than 50 prominent economists has twice written open letters to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warning that his high-spending policies risk fuelling inflation further.

The government insists, however, that it has inflation under control and that booming oil receipts allow it to splash out on necessary infrastructure projects.

Iran's ex-PM breaks silence to warn on poverty

from The Middle Eastern Times

TEHRAN -- Iran's last post-revolution prime minister has broken years of silence to warn that poverty is threatening the basis of the Islamic republic, the media reported Sunday.

Mir Hossein Moussavi, seen as close to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, served in the now-defunct post of prime minister from 1981 to 1989, but has largely stayed out of politics ever since.

In a speech quoted by most of the reformist newspapers, he complained that the country was becoming immune to pictures of impoverished minors and statistics that he said showed that 20 percent of Tehran children were homeless.


"It seems that we have distanced ourselves from the revolution's vision and thoughts," said Moussavi. "It seems like we think that our responsibility is over. Uprooting poverty and meeting human needs, while preserving their dignity, is what the Islamic republic's economy is based on," he added.

Moussavi, who also served as foreign minister, noted that Article 43 of Iran's constitution said that it must aim to provide all the basic needs and food to its people.

"The Islamic republic's legitimacy depends on these principles. It means that this system, as long as it is an Islamic republic and accepts this constitution, cannot abandon this goal and settle for less."

Iran's reformists - including the outgoing government - were keen for Moussavi to run for president in the 2005 elections as a popular moderate who still enjoys great legitimacy owing to his closeness to Khomeini.

However, he refused, for reasons that were never publicly disclosed, and conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went on to thrash the more pragmatic Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the run-off.

With Khomeini's backing, the leftist Moussavi managed to haul the country through a bloody war with Iraq and international isolation. After Khomeini's death in 1989, the post of prime minister was scrapped.

His comments come at a time of increasing concern about Iran's economy, with MPs and economists warning that the policies of Ahmadinejad risk further fueling rising inflation.

The country is also grappling with problems of unemployment for its booming youth population as well as drug addiction and juvenile delinquency.