The Role of Cooperatives in Socio-Economic Development among Youth of Qom Province

The cooperative is one of the three most important economic sectors of the country. Co-operatives can contribute to the economic and social development of a society. This study aimed to study the role of cooperatives in economic and social development in Qom province. The research method is survey and its tool is a questionnaire. The statistical population of this study is the members of manufacturing and service cooperatives of Qom province which are 830044 persons in total. Through multi-stage cluster sampling, 400 members of cooperatives were selected as sample. The findings of the study show that the mean of social development variable is at an average downward level. The highest average was in terms of indices of civic activities, physical health and generalized norms, respectively. The lowest mean is also for social cohesion and social awareness. Average economic development is 2.44 and is below average. And it's also lower than social development. Multivariate regression results show that 40.5% of social development changes and 30.1% of economic development are affected by cooperatives and cooperatives. The result is that cooperatives and their positive performance can provide the basis for social and economic development. Co-operatives can also play a role in creating an economic cloud.