Balochistan is a region with extensive natural resources, mineral wealth, a strategic border location, access to international waters and significant opportunities for trade and transport. Yet a large part of its population continues to struggle with poverty, unemployment, economic deprivation and a lack of stable employment opportunities.
This contrast between Balochistan's economic potential and the living conditions of its people raises an important question: Why does a region with such resources and opportunities continue to experience widespread poverty, and why are many residents forced to take part in dangerous activities such as fuel transportation to meet their most basic needs?
Balochistan's economic crisis is not limited to a shortage of jobs. Educational deprivation, weak infrastructure, drought, unequal access to economic resources, insufficient social support and limited participation by local communities in economic decision-making all contribute to the situation.
In a report dated 17 October 2026, the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) stated that 54% of the population of Sistan and Balochistan lives below the poverty line, with the figure reaching 74% in areas such as Rask, Sarbaz and Qasr-e Qand. The report also gave a national poverty figure of 22%.
However, ILNA did not identify the original sources or explain the methodology used to calculate these figures. They should therefore be treated as figures reported by the news agency rather than independently verified statistics.
Despite this limitation, the figures once again draw attention to the scale of economic hardship in Balochistan. Its consequences can be seen in families' daily lives, children's educational opportunities, access to services and the employment choices available to residents.
Hossein Ali Akbari, executive secretary of the Workers' House in Sistan and Balochistan, also told ILNA that if people working in informal activities such as fuel transportation were counted as unemployed, he estimated that around 50% of the province's population would be unemployed.
This is a personal estimate and cannot be treated as an official unemployment rate. Working in the informal economy does not necessarily mean being unemployed under statistical definitions. Nevertheless, Akbari's comments raise an important question about the quality of employment and the economic reality facing households.
Can a temporary and dangerous source of income, without insurance or job security, really be considered decent employment?
In parts of Balochistan, limited economic opportunities and a lack of stable jobs have led some residents, particularly young people, to transport and sell fuel to support themselves and their families.
For many, this is not a freely chosen occupation among different employment options, but one of the few available ways to earn an income.
The activity involves serious risks, including road accidents, vehicle fires, confiscation of vehicles and shootings by military and law enforcement forces.
Over the years, human rights organisations have reported and documented numerous cases of Baloch fuel transporters being killed or injured by security forces' gunfire.
Under these circumstances, examining fuel transportation only as an issue of combating smuggling, without considering its economic and social causes, cannot provide a complete picture.
The central question is what alternative employment opportunities have been created for people whose families depend on this activity.
Have economic and development policies created conditions in which people can earn a safe and stable income without risking their lives?
A purely security-based response to fuel transportation, without addressing poverty and unemployment or creating alternative livelihoods, cannot resolve the economic causes of the problem.
One of the most concerning aspects of Balochistan's economic crisis is the involvement of children in dangerous fuel transportation. This issue was also mentioned in ILNA's report, while Baloch activists and human rights organisations have warned about its consequences for years.
Poverty and insufficient family income have pushed some children into activities that are unsuitable for their age and place their lives and health at risk.
In recent years, numerous reports have described the deaths of Baloch children in incidents connected to fuel transportation, including children who died when vehicles carrying fuel caught fire.
Some reported victims were only 11 or 13 years old. Because of poverty and their families' difficult economic circumstances, they had to work as assistants to fuel transporters.
Instead of attending school, these children travelled on dangerous roads to help support their families and lost their lives in fuel-related vehicle fires.
They were denied the opportunity to enjoy childhood and some of their most basic rights, including education, safety and life in a secure environment.
Children's involvement in fuel transportation is not simply a matter of child labour. It also reflects the depth of poverty and deprivation that can prevent children from accessing education, healthcare and opportunities for a better future.
Why, despite repeated warnings from human rights activists, have effective and sufficient measures not been taken to protect these children and their families and create safe livelihood opportunities?
Protecting children in such circumstances cannot be effective or sustainable without also addressing their families' economic conditions.
Balochistan has significant mineral and commercial potential. However, the presence of natural resources and major economic projects does not automatically mean that local people benefit from employment opportunities and the income they generate.
ILNA's report refers to demands from local communities concerning recruitment and economic participation at the Taftan gold mine.
According to the executive secretary of the Workers' House in Sistan and Balochistan, residents living near the mines expect not only to bear the environmental consequences of mining activities but also to benefit from employment opportunities, technical training, insurance and service contracts.
These demands raise a broader question: What share of the resources and economic projects operating in local communities actually benefits the people living there?
Do residents near mining sites have access to jobs and skills training? Are effective measures in place to address the environmental and social consequences of these projects? And do local communities have a role in decisions about economic development in their areas?
Economic development can improve people's lives when the opportunities it creates are fairly accessible to local residents and their interests are taken into account during planning.
Widespread poverty in a region with significant mineral, port and commercial potential raises serious questions about development policies, resource distribution, public investment and the responsibilities of government institutions.
The issue is not only the lack of jobs. Employment quality, equal access to education and skills training, insurance, job security and the ability of local people to participate in economic decision-making are equally important.
The impact of security policies on economic activities in border areas must also be considered. When some residents depend on fuel transportation to survive, a purely security-based response, without alternative employment opportunities, cannot address the economic causes of the problem.
Poverty and unemployment also affect more than household income. They can limit children's access to education, healthcare and safety, increasing the risk that deprivation will continue into future generations.
Understanding Balochistan's economic crisis therefore requires looking beyond employment and poverty statistics. It requires examining development policies, job quality, social and economic rights and the extent to which local communities benefit from the region's resources.
The crisis of poverty and unemployment in Balochistan cannot be fully explained or resolved through statistics, welfare payments or action against informal economic activities alone.
What requires serious examination and accountability is why economic deprivation continues in a region with significant mineral, port, commercial and human resources.
Why do some people in Balochistan continue to struggle to meet their most basic needs while living alongside natural resources and major economic projects?
Why have safe and stable employment opportunities that respect human dignity not been made available to many residents?
Why are children from some families forced to work in dangerous activities such as fuel transportation instead of attending school?
And why do local communities often lack meaningful participation in economic decisions that directly affect their lives and futures?
Balochistan is not only a land of mineral resources, ports and commercial opportunities. It is also home to people who have the right to economic opportunities, education, safety, decent employment and a life of dignity.
Until questions about poverty, resource distribution, employment and local participation are addressed through effective policies, transparency and accountability, the risks of continuing poverty, dangerous work and deprivation for future generations will remain.
Real development in Balochistan cannot be measured only by the amount of minerals extracted, the volume of trade or the number of economic projects. A more important measure is how far these resources and opportunities improve people's lives, reduce poverty and create fair and sustainable opportunities.