Living costs survey: 61% cut food purchases, 47% delayed medical care

In a voluntary survey on household living conditions in Iran, 94 percent of respondents said their finances had worsened over the past year, and more than 61 percent had cut food purchases, especially meat and dairy. Nearly 47 percent said they had postponed treatment or buying medicine. Iran International ran the survey among its audience from 30 October to 3 November 2026, and 404 people took part.

Of the 398 people who answered the question on their finances, 300 described their situation as "much worse" than last year. Nearly 91 percent expect next year to be even worse. 89.5 percent said high prices and economic instability had had a large or very large effect on their mental health.

Borrowing, selling belongings and two jobs

Respondents are turning to several ways at once to get by. 171 have drawn on their savings, 128 have borrowed, 97 have paid rent or bills late and 86 have sold household belongings. 142 have both cut food purchases and postponed treatment. Nearly 30 percent hold two or more jobs, and in 47 percent of households only one person has an income.

The accounts sent in by participants show the same picture. One retiree wrote that after rent, loan instalments and bills, about 600,000 tomans are left for a month, with money for neither potatoes and onions nor a doctor and diabetes medicine. A parent of three said they sew the children's clothes at home. Another wrote that after losing a government job, their psychiatric treatment had been interrupted for three years.

The survey's limits

Participants came voluntarily from one outlet's audience and do not form a random sample; the organisers state that the results cannot be generalised to Iran's whole population. Even so, the figures match what the Islamic Republic's own officials say: Ali Babaei Karnami, head of parliament's social committee, said a few days ago that eight million Iranians suffer from absolute poverty and malnutrition.

Nearly half of the living costs survey's respondents have put off treatment or medicine because of high prices.