18.10.2017

UN study reveals that Armenia’s population is expected to decrease

JAMnews

Yerevan

Photo: Gevork Kazaryan, JAMnews

The population of Armenia will steadily decrease in the next few years, a report conducted by the UN Population Fund says.

By 2035, the population of Armenia will be 3.2 million at best, and in the worst case scenario around 2.5 to 2.6 million says the authors of the research. The recent comments made by the President claiming that the population of Armenia will be 4 million by 2040 are considered by the researchers to be unrealistic promises.

The reason for the population decrease is lower birth rates in Armenia and permanent immigration. If these two tendencies change, then other prognoses may be made, the executive representative of the Armenian office of the UN Population Fund, Garik Ayratepyan, told journalists.

Official data claims around 3 million people live in Armenia. Over the past nine years (that is, over the course of the presidency of Serzh Sargsyan) 300 000 people have left Armenia, which is 10% of the population. In 2016 alone, 48 000 people left.

In May of 2017, the president of Armenia announced in parliament that in 2040, the population of Armenia will reach four million.

“In order for the population to grow, people have to be socially and economically better off, and then they will have more children,” the representative of the UN Population Fund said.

At the same time, he said that the problem is that men do not allow women to work and this creates financial problems for the family.

“Back in 2009 we conducted a survey of households. 7-9 % Of men said that they wouldn’t allow their wives to work. But I think that in reality there are far more such men, and this is a rather serious ‘hidden’ problem», said Garik Ayrapetyan.