Socioeconomic Developments in Iran and Cuba: 40 Years after the Revolution

Realization of socioeconomic justice has been among key goals and ideals of the leaders and Constitution of Iran and Cuba. This paper studies the three areas of income, education and health to evaluate socioeconomic justice during the period 1979-2018 for Iran and 1960-1999 for Cuba. Comparative-descriptive research method has been employed and the documentary research method has made use of data with the Statistical Center of Iran, Ministry of Health, Central Bank of Iran, World Health Organization, World Bank and findings of the previous research works. According to the findings of this paper, the student-teacher ratio in Iran in 2018 has been 28/52 and 11/48 in Cuba in 1999. The regression coefficient for 24 years of same data has been -.290 and -.608 respectively. Government spending on education as a percentage of GDP was 3.96% in Iran in 2018 and 6.76% in Cuba in 1999 and the regression coefficient for 11 years has been -.012 and .062 respectively. In health sector, out-of-pocket costs in Iran in 2014 stood at 47.80% and in Cuba in 1995 at 9.77% while five-year coefficients of the fourth decade stood at -2.840 and -.200 respectively. The density of physicians (per 1000 population) in Iran in 2018 was 1/58 and in Cuba in 1999 it was 5/84 while the 34-year regression coefficient stood at .038 and .136 respectively. Hospital beds (per 1000 population) in Iran in 2014 marked 1/50 and in Cuba in 1995 it was 6, while 25-year regression coefficients were respectively .005 and .073. Based on Gini cost-based coefficient, during the first three decades after the revolution, Iran was placed among the relatively unequal countries (0/50-0/35) while Gini income-based coefficient related to the three first decades put Cuba among the relatively equal countries (0/35-0/20). With the growth in inequality in the fourth decade after the revolution, Cuba was placed among the relatively unequal countries.