Statistics Committee: Poverty level is rising in Armenia

The Statistical Committee of Armenia has published a statistical and analytical review titled "Social landscape and poverty in Armenia, 2021," Report informs via News.am.

According to the review, compared to 2019, the poverty rate in Armenia increased in 2020 by 0.6% to 27%. The committee uses consumption-oriented expenditures as an indicator of well-being to assess the level of poverty in Armenia.

According to the new methodology approved by the World Bank, the extreme poverty rate in 2020 was 0.7% (1.4% in 2019).

"Given that the number of low-income poor has decreased, the increase in the average poverty rate is mainly due to the impoverishment of the middle class. That is, the ranks of the poor are filled with people who worked before," the agency said.

In January-October 2021, Armenia recorded unprecedented high inflation (6.9%) compared to previous years. At the same time, the country's economy has not recovered from last year's crisis, and personal incomes - pensions, benefits, salaries - have remained largely the same. Therefore, in 2021, the poverty problem is likely to worsen, aggravate social issues, and the wave of emigration will continue.