Friday, January 10 2020 13:11

ArmInfo.During the years of independence, from 1.1 to 2018, about 1.1 million people left Armenia. A similar opinion was expressed by ArmInfo, the head of the  demography department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of  Armenia Artak Markosyan.

"Only in the period from 2008 to 2017 the country left 200,000 mostly  able-bodied, thinking, and accordingly well-off citizens. This  suggests that the problems that prompt people to think about  migration did not come down to social problems. People simply did not  connect own future with Armenia. And today, when the situation in  this regard is beginning to change, it is imperative to strengthen  such trends by implementing reforms, creating jobs and prerequisites  for a continued increase in wages, "he said.

According to the demographer, the programs launched in 2020 aimed at  resolving demographic problems, among other things, will contribute  to economic growth. The latter, in turn, should help create the  conditions necessary for improving the demographic situation in the  country in the future.

As an example of the effective interaction of the links of such a  chain, Markosyan noted the prospect of increasing financial  assistance from the state to families wishing to have a third child.  In his opinion, today it is necessary to think about introducing  state programs that stimulate the appearance of a third child in  Armenian families. And Markosyan considers economic growth to be the  best help in this process, which will allow the state to allocate  sufficient funds for this.

The demographer is convinced that it is possible to solve the  demographic problems of Armenia by comparing the increase in the  birth rate, economic growth and a significant decrease in the level  of migration. In this direction, according to him, an impressive  amount of work is already underway. In particular, in the direction  of solving the problem of increasing fertility.

"For example, state assistance to working mothers in villages was  reduced to a one-time allowance of 50 thousand drams dedicated to the  birth of the first child. Today this amount has increased by 6 times.  Plus, rural residents will receive more than 900 thousand drams per  child for 2 years. This is a very serious help and the implementation  of such work in the direction of assistance, stimulation of  increasing the birth rate must be steadily deepened, "concluded  Markosyan.

As of January 1, 2019, the population of Armenia was 2 million 965  thousand 100 people. In 2018, the population was 2 million 972  thousand 700 people. According to UN forecasts, in the presence of  existing demographic and migration trends, the population of Armenia  will decrease to 2 million people by 2100.