An Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of expense and Income of Rural Households in Iran

Investigating the developments ofrural society from the past to thepresent, it has been shown that ruralareas face with fundamentaldifficulties and problems at differentlevels in various socio-economic andecological dimensions. The continuation of thissituation has caused problems such as exacerbationof regional inequalities, the abandonment ofefficient rural and material capital in villages, theever-increasing decline in food production and theemergence of food crises, population accumulationin urban societies, and the spread of marginalization,unemployment and social damage. Considering thefact that villagers are among the most deprivedgroups of the society, and bearing in mind that thetypes of economic and livelihood activities,sources of income, and expenditure in rural andurban areas are very different, many differencesand inequality have been observed in the expenseand income of rural and urban households over thepast few decades. Therefore, the recognition andanalysis of spatial distribution of expense andincome of rural households are of high importance.The study of income distribution in villagesindicates the fact that, in comparison with cities,the distribution of income in rural areas is moreunbalanced. One of the important factors inachieving sustainable rural development is tobalance the expense and income of ruralhouseholds in the country. Considering theimportance of expense and income of ruralhouseholds in rural and national economy, the aimof this study is the spatial analysis of thedistribution of income and expenditure of ruralhouseholds in different provinces of the countryduring the period 1996-2012. In other words, thisstudy investigates the trend from the beginning ofthe Second Economic, Social, and CulturalDevelopment Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iranto the beginning of the fifth plan. Considering thetime of the compilation of the sixth plan, theattitude of authorities towards small areas, especiallyrural ones, can remove this heavy burden from thegovernment and make a complete comprehensiveplan with respect to self-reliance of rural communities.Therefore, the main question in this study is asfollows: