TThree decades have passed since the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the country has gone through various waves of changes in its economic, political, social and cultural systems. In 1980, one year after the revolution, the Iran-Iraq war started. A war, which lasted eight years and towards its last years, claimed more than 70% of the country’s revenue (Ehsani 1994). In the same period, large waves of emigration were also in process, leaving the industry sectors to the mid-level managers and staff with less specialized skills to run the industry. The international embargo started soon after the revolution and made it even harder for the country’s economy to keep up with the above-mentioned shocks. Many scholars compare the country’s GDP before and after the revolution with South Korea and Turkey (that had similar GDPs growth rates at the time) to show the large contrasts and the extent of changes that Iran has gone through. Between 1960 and 1977, GDP per capita grew at 6.6% per year. However, in 1988, after the Iran-Iraq war, per capita fell to one-half of its level in 1977 and in 2005, it went back to its level before the revolution (Salehi-Isfahani 2009). Shortly after the revolution rehabilitation projects started in rural areas providing the disadvantaged population with school buildings, roads, water and electricity. Despite the war and political struggles, the basic needs of the society was being addressed with higher priorities for the poor. As such, the 1979 revolution was a significant turning point for deprived and disadvantaged groups, particularly in rural areas and for girls. This study aims to provide an in-depth analysis on multiple dimensions of children’s poverty in Iran, starting from 1984 to 2009 and addresses some key questions: Who is deprived and who is moderately deprived from basic needs? Is moderate deprivation more prevalent than deprivation? How children’s deprivation from basic needs has changed over the time? What were the priorities in 1984 and how did it changed in 2009? Is deprivation from basic needs more prevalent in provinces populated with ethnic minorities in Iran? Do rural children have higher deprivation from basic needs than urban children? Do girls have higher deprivation than boys?
