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Elderly in Iran suffer as economy falters

Iran's senior citizens feel the toll of Iran's faltering economy and record pollution.
Women sit on a park bench in Tehran June 9, 2009. Iranians vote on Friday in the 10th presidential election since the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. Three decades after the revolution, Reuters invited some older Iranians who witnessed the Shah's overthrow to look back at the changes they have lived through. To match feature IRAN-ELECTION/REVOLUTION             REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR24JM3

Being elderly in Iran is by no means simple; the society suffers from a shortage of means to accommodate senior citizens. Those who are wealthy, or even moderately well-off, are not forced to face many of the obstacles the poor and middle class must.

In the past decade — particularly over the last five years — senior citizens have been benefiting from some public transportation and limited recreational discounts, but the grave issue is that a lot of what Iranian senior citizens lack either does not exist at all in the country, or is offered at a high price, regardless of age.

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