In 1980 the Khomeini government established two special foundations to care for those affected by war. The Foundation for Martyrs and the Foundation for War Refugees (Bonyad-e Jangzadegan) provided welfare and services to veterans and survivors. It also established the Foundation for War Victims (veterans) and the Foundation for the Disinherited (Bonyad-e Mostazafin), which looked after orphans.

With more than 1 million people killed or maimed by the war, the cost of financing compensations and pensions mounted rapidly. War-related expenses included the costs of the Pasdaran and the Basij, compensations and pensions to the war disabled and the families of the dead, the funding of the Foundation for War Victims and the War Reconstruction Fund. Despite these mounting costs, the government was generous to the survivors of the dead. A regular soldier's family reportedly received compensation of US$24,000 and full salary as a pension additionally, the equivalent of US$60 monthly was deposited in the bank account of each of his minor children until they reached eighteen. The government assisted the family in renting, buying, or building a house. Less generous amounts were paid to the families of the Pasdaran and the Basij who died on the front. Disabled soldiers reportedly received US$30 monthly, and the seriously injured were cared for in veterans' hospitals.

In an official Iranian publication, Summary Report: An Estimate of the Economic Damages of the Imposed War of Iraq Against Iran, the damages caused to the Iranian economy up to March 1983 were cited as equivalent to US$135.8 billion, including the loss of oil revenue (US$35 billion) and agricultural output (US$23 billion). A dozen cities and 1,200 villages were reported destroyed and another 19 cities partially damaged. The war had created no fewer than 1.5 million Iranian refugees by early 1983. In 1987 more recent documentation was unavailable, but, because of the war's persistence, the numbers were undoubtedly larger.

Data as of December 1987