Iran’s people are suffering with addiction, depression and prostitution:
Addiction: Iran has the highest opiate drug addiction rate in the world (source: 2005 UN World Drug Report) with an estimated 3-5 million drug addicts in Iran.
Depression: 21% of the population (15 million people) suffer from depression (sources: official Iranian government report, November 2005, Iranian Ministry of Health report, October 2005).
Mental illness: Over 10% of the population suffers from at least one psychiatric disorder (source: survey conducted by the Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health).
Prostitution: There are an estimated 600,000 prostitutes in Iran – many are runaways who have fled abusive families, or the very poor who have no other way of earning a living; The number of prostitutes in Iran has grown 2000% in 4 years (est. 30,000 in Sept 2002, source: Hadi Motamedi, top official at State Welfare Organization); thousands of Iranian women and girls have been sold into sexual slavery abroad.
