TEHRAN - The ratio of the income of the top tenth of the population to the bottom tenth has declined to 13.1, demonstrating an improvement in income equality in Iran.

 

The ratio is the lowest in Iran since 1982 according to the Mehr News Agency

 

The agency quoted the report as stating that the Gini coefficient, which measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution (for example levels of income), fell to 0.3813 in 2010 from 0.4023 in 2005. A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality where all values are the same.

 

On average, urban Iranian families spend around 11.8 million rials (some $960) per month, the Central Bank reported on April 14.

 

Meanwhile, families earn some 11.4 million rials (around $930) per month on the average, the Mehr News Agency quoted the report as saying.

 

The average annual costs of urban families amounts to 141.6 million rials (some $11,900), the report added.

 

Between February 2011 and February 2012, the government earned 510 trillion rials (some $41.6 billion) by implementing the Subsidy Reform Plan.

 

The second phase of implementing the plan aims to remove the subsidies of some three million Iranian families. The Iranian government is planning to pay more cash subsidies to economically vulnerable people and cut subsidies for well-off families.

 

The plan allows the Iranian government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct cash handouts.