Tuesday, October 17 2017 17:11

ArmInfo. According to the  calculations of the United Nations (UN), while maintaining the  current demographic and migration trends, the population of Armenia  will continue to decline, reaching 2.5 million by 2035. Today,  according to official data, the population of the republic is just  under 3 million people. This was stated by the representative of the  Armenian office of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Garik Hayrapetyan  at a press conference on October 17 during the presentation of the UN  report "Population of the World in 2017".

According to the Fund's calculations, in case of initiating serious  steps towards increasing the population of the country, in  particular, aimed at increasing the birth rate and repatriation, by  2035 the number of Armenian citizens may increase to 3.2 million.  Achieving this goal, as pointed out by Hayrapetyan, is theoretically  possible, but in practice it will be very difficult to achieve this.  As for achieving the goal set by the Armenian president, namely, by  the year 2040 the increase in the population of Armenia to 4 million,  this goal, according to the representative of the United Nations  Population Fund, is not only too ambitious, but, unfortunately,  difficult to achieve.

As Garik Hayrapetyan also said, Armenia is in the "top-10" countries  in terms of inequality of incomes. In the East-European and Central  Asian region, the leader in inequality was Turkey, and the world -  South Africa. The lowest level of inequality in the region is  registered in Ukraine.  At the same time, Armenia occupies leading  positions in a number of indicators; since 2008, almost twice the  childcare allowance has been increased, and a system of birth  certificates has been introduced.

In terms of the maternal mortality rate, Armenia also made noticeable  progress. Since 2000, the maternal mortality ratio has decreased  3-fold: in 2000 this indicator was more than 60 per 100 thousand live  births, and in 2013-2015 - 19.6. The highest  maternal mortality rate  in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region was recorded in  Kyrgyzstan (76 per 100,000), the lowest in Belarus (4 per 100,000).  In Azerbaijan, the figure is equal to 25 per 100 thousand, in Georgia  - 36, in Turkey - 16, in Russia - 25.  Concerning the inequality of  wages for women and men, the expert noted that this picture is  inherent in many countries of the world. In Armenia, he said, the  inequality of wages for men and women was 36%. In the Eastern  European and Central Asian region, Turkey is in the worst position,  Slovenia is in the best position. In terms of obtaining education and  work in the most unenviable position were Azerbaijani women, the  opportunities for Armenian women and Georgians in this context are  equal. It is interesting that, according to the representative of the  Foundation, the indicator of education for women is higher. But it's  easier for men to get a job, he said.