About 20 million Iranian citizens lack the basic necessities to survive, a leading official has revealed.

Ali Agha-Mohammadi, a member of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, said Thursday that about 19,700,000 Iranians do not have access to adequate housing, education, healthcare, food and clothing.

He criticized the officials who try to cover up the shortcomings with quick fixes and haphazard measures. 

The Expediency Discernment Council is an administrative assembly whose members are appointed by the Supreme Leader.

The figure disclosed by former deputy vice president Agha-Mohammadi equates to more than 1 in 5 of Iran’s total population of almost 88 million.

Earlier this year, the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare said that one-third of the country’s population is now living in extreme poverty, with the proportion having almost doubled from 2020 to 2021.

According to the ministry, the minimum monthly income needed to stay above the poverty line for a family of four in Tehran in 2022 was estimated at 147,000,000 rials (about $500 at the time) but the average nationwide is estimated to have been about 77,000,000 (about $250).

Iranian officials have set the minimum monthly salary for the current year at about 82 million rials, or about $160 at today’s exchange rate. This is one of the lowest minimum wages in the world.

Ecoiran quoted a central bank source on Wednesday as saying that inflation in the first Iranian month of the year (March 21-April 20) rose by 68.7 compared to the same period last year. Just in that one-month prices jumped 5.2 percent, with the previous month witnessing another substantial hike of 6.6 percent.