The current study attempted to investigate the poverty situation subject to risk attitudes in the rural areas of Iran. Various indices including head count ratio, poverty gap ratio and poverty severity were applied in poverty analysis. Risk preferences were investigated by using the equally likely certainty equivalent with a purely hypothetical risky prospect technique. Data were collected in 2007 from a sample of 120 households in three villages of Fasa region in Fars province. Result indicated that 48.33 percent of rural are poor and 51.67 percent are rich. Poverty gap and poverty severity criteria among the rural poor are 0.354 and 0.190, respectively. Risk attitudes distribution among rural poor indicated that 46.55 percent of rural poor are risk taker, 34.48 percent are risk averse, and 18.97 percent are risk neutral. The risk-averse rural poor involved the highest and the risk-taker rural poor involved the lowest poverty gap. Also, the risk-averse rural poor showed the highest and the risk-taker rural poor indicated the lowest sensitivity to income distribution.
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