TEHRAN – Since the incumbent government took office two years ago, 951 new village administrations have been established across the country.

In fact, 38,816 village administrations are currently offering services to some 96 percent of people in rural areas.

Currently, 26 percent of the country's population lives in villages, around 39,000 villages have more than 20 households and 23,000 villages have less than 20 households.

The development of rural areas has been always a top agenda of the government’s activities.

Many efforts have been made over the past couple of years by the government to support villagers and slow down the trend of migration from rural areas to cities.

Rural tourism, agritourism, religious tourism, and ecotourism are alternatives or complementary economic activities that could further stimulate rural development while decreasing rural community dependency on one main economic sector (agriculture, forestry, energy, or mining).

Rural councils and village administrations play an effective role in reducing the costs of implementing development and service projects by attracting the participation of people and benefactors.

Village administrations coordinate executive bodies and follow up on affairs related to rural areas, facilitating the implementation of development projects.

Over the past two years, 11,384 projects costing 7.65 trillion rials (about $15 million) have been carried out by village administrations.

The Ministry of Interior has announced that all the villages with more than 20 households are allowed to establish village administration offices.

There are around 40,000 villages in the country with more than 20 households, for all of which comprehensive development plans have been approved for 10 years.

In addition to improving infrastructures in rural areas, the establishment of village administrations is an achievement for the government as it has been a positive measure toward boosting public participation in running national affairs.