Country: Iran
Committee: UNDP
Topic: Eradication of Poverty
Delegate: Connor Baney
School: Mattawan High School
Poverty is a subject that is historically significant for a variety of reasons. From the dawn of agricultural society and the subsequent development of city states and industrial society, material stratification has been omnipresent. This concept is no stranger to the 21st century, as worldwide, there are roughly 734 million people living in what is considered extreme poverty, of which, 85% live in 20 countries.
In Iran, poverty is an issue that unfortunately isn’t alien to our country’s extensive and storied past. A prominent Iranian economist says 33 percent of the country’s population live in absolute poverty, and six percent are starving. A family of four living in an urban area with a monthly income below forty million rials (roughly $1000) is living in poverty, Hossein Raghfar told state-run Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) April 7. This is a pressing issue considering that according to an October 2017 report by the World Bank, “Iran is the second largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region after Saudi Arabia, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016 of $412.2 billion—Iran ranks second in the world in natural gas reserves and fourth in proven crude oil reserves. Economic activity and government revenues still depend to a large extent on oil revenues and therefore remain volatile.”
In totality, the Iranian government is interested in cooperating with many members of the international community in an effort to improve not only our economic standing, but also the standing of other nations who find themselves in a similar position.
- Connor Baney
