Poverty Face in Armenia

25.7% of Armenia’s population or 766,000 people are officially considered poor. This is according to 2017 data, which means every fourth of the country’s population is poor.

According to the “Armenia’s Social Image and Poverty ” report published by the National Statistical Committee, the poverty level in Armenia in 2017 has dropped by 3.7 percentage points. Let us remind that in 2016, 29.4% of Armenia’s population or 880,000 were considered poor.

At the same time, it is noted that 1.4% of the 25.7% of the poor are extremely poor, 9.2% are moderately poor (without extreme poverty) and 15.1% are simply poor. According to the report, the overall poverty rate for the first time in 2017 is 1.9 percentage points lower than the 2008 financial crisis, with a moderate decrease of 2.0 percentage points, and extreme poverty by 0.2 percentage points.

The poverty level differs according to regions and Yerevan. The indicators of the Shirak, Kotayk, Lori, Tavush and Armavir regions are higher than the average republican. Armenia’s highest poverty rate was registered in Shirak province, where 44% of the population is below the poverty line.

In Yerevan, the poverty rate is the lowest (22.4%) and it is 1.2 times lower than in other urban areas. When the living standard of the population is viewed by urban and rural distribution, most of the poor (59.7%) are urban residents.

The probability of being poor in households with children and families with children is higher, as the relative risk of poverty is increasing in parallel to the household size.

As regards the educational level, according to the report, the likelihood of being poor for people with higher education is smaller.

One of the most important factors affecting poverty is participation in the labor market. Especially when there is no work, the likelihood of being poor or extremely poor is rising.

According to a report published by the Statistical Committee, child poverty in Armenia continues to have disturbing trends.

According to the report, in Armenia by 2017, 2.1% of children under the age of 18 lived extreme poverty and 30.8% in poverty. Thus, children are more vulnerable to both general and extreme poverty risk than the entire population.

Poor children often live in dwellings lacking comfortable accommodations, hot water, centralized gas supply, stationary telephone, bathtub or shower-free shower. 29% of the total number of children reside in households that consider living conditions as bad or very bad.