An Assessment of Some Elements of Social Development in Rural Areas (Case Study: Hormozgan Province)

Social development and combating poverty play a major role in solving basic problems and contribute to redistributing resources and improving the efficiency of the existing foundations of society. This development is based on justice, reducing socio-economic inequalities, distribution, reducing deprivation and empowerment of the poor, which can be measured through various measures at different levels. In this study, social development in rural areas was analyzed by 52 elements in the latest official data from the Statistical Center of Iran. This study used a descriptive analytical method based on documents studies and using the Fuzzy VIKOR method to analyze the degree of social development in rural areas inHormozganProvince. The statistical community is composed of 2257 villages in 13 counties. The findings also confirm the inharmonious development of Hormozgan. The social dimension and evidence of the development gap show that the rural areas of thecounty ofBastak by a factor of 0.15 in terms of its average development component. The rural areas counties of Parsian, Haji Abad, Ciric, Abu Musa, Bandar Lengeh, Bandar Abbas and Jask were among the poorest regions in terms of social development. Also, rural areas of the counties of Qeshm, Bashagard, Rudan, Khamir and Minab were in the moderate level of development in social context. This study reveals that to achieve a desirable social development and realize relative welfare in the less developed, poor and very poor regions, we need to review the current situation, plan to increase the quantity and quality of available resources, use new capacities, new social policies and social justice in the allocation strategies.