The annual income of the average Iranian household outweighed their living expenses by almost 17.96 million rials ($415), or 1.49 million rials ($34.5) a month, in the last Iranian year (March 2017-18), according to the latest Central Bank of Iran report.
The report, which is based on a survey of about 13,000 households, indicates that the average annual gross income of urban households was 439.27 million rials ($10,151) or 36.6 million rials ($845.9) a month, registering a 12% rise compared with the fiscal year before (March 2016-17).
The average annual gross expense of the households, on the other hand, was 421.3 million rials ($9,736), or 35.1 million rials ($811.3) a month, registering a 7.2% increase year-on-year.
"Lodging, water, electricity and gas" topped the list of household expenses, together making up 35.5% of all expenses. They were followed by "food and beverages" (23.5%) and "transportation" (10.6%), "other goods and services" (8.2%), "health and treatment" (5.7%), "clothing and shoes" (4.2%), "domestic appliances" (4%), "communications" (2.1%), "restaurants and hotels" (2.1%), "entertainment and cultural activities" (1.9%), "education' (1.8%) and "tobacco" (0.3%).
The average goods and services Consumer Price Index for urban areas in the 12 months ending March 20, which marks the end of the last fiscal year, increased by 9.6% compared with the previous year’s corresponding period, it said.
The CBI report shows each household had an average of 3.28 members last year, down from 3.33 members in the year before (March 2016-17). Four-member households had the largest share (28.9%) of all Iranian households in the period under review.
Moreover, 7.2% of household members were five years or younger, 6.4% between six and 10, 6.3% between 11 and 15, 6.8% between 16 and 20, 16.8% between 21 and 30, 31.1% between 31 and 50, and 25.4% were above 51 or older.
The report also shows 10.9% of household members over six years old were illiterate, 2.2% could read and write, 21.1% had elementary education, 41.9% had secondary or high-school education and 23.9% had academic education.
Last year, 27.9% of households had no employed members, 55.3% had one, 14% had two and 2.8% had three or more members with employment, the report reads. Compared with the fiscal 2016-17, the percentage of households with no employed members increased last year, while the percentage of households with one and two employed members decreased. The percentage of households with three or more employed members remained unchanged.
About 64.8% of Iranian households owned homes last year, up from 64.3% the year before. Furthermore, 25.9% were tenants, 0.4% lived in homes provided by their employers, and 8.9% enjoyed social housing.
A total of 2.7% of households lived in one-bedroom homes, 29.6% had two bedrooms, 50% three bedrooms, 14.2% four bedrooms and 2.2% five bedrooms while 1.3% lived in homes with six bedrooms or more.
A total of 99.4% of households benefited from running water, 100% had electricity, 94.5% had access to urban gas pipeline networks, 53.3% used urban sewage systems, 99.2% had a kitchen, 99.6% had bathrooms, 82.6% used air-conditioners, 19.3% had heating system, 45% had storage rooms, 74.9% had landline telephones and 64.1% had access to the Internet. A total of 61.6% of households were members of social media networks.
Last year, 49.4% of the households possessed a car, 16% had a motorcycle and 13.1% owned a bicycle. Some 49.2% had a sewing machine, 25.5% had a radio and tape recorder, 98.3% owned a TV set, 41.6% had a VHS or CD/DVD player, 44.6% had a computer, 9.4% owned video cameras, 99.6% had refrigerators and freezers, 99.7% owned stoves, 94.2% had vacuum cleaners, 88.6% had washing machines and 96.6% had cellphones.
