YEREVAN, October 17. /ARKA/. Approximately 45% of Armenia’s population is on the verge of absolute poverty, Aharon Adibekyan, the head of Sociometer polling center, told a news conference today, timed with the World Day for Overcoming Extreme Poverty, marked October 17.



"According to our data, 10% of them are destitute. When we evaluated a program designed to help school students, it appeared that one of the reasons why children did not attend schools was that they did not have shoes and warm clothes. This way poverty affects the future generations," Adibekyan said.



Adibekyan’s findings do not match with official statistics, which says the poverty level in 2015 was 29.8%, which was 0.2% less than in 2014. According to official data, 900,000 Armenian citizens were poor, 310,000 were very poor, and 60,000 were extremely poor. Thus, in 2015, about 19.4% of the country's population was poor, 8.4% very poor and 2% extremely poor.



In Adibekyan’s words, Armenians spend more than half of their incomes on food. "Every third citizen of Armenia lives on wages, 18% have other sources of income and about 29% survive on allowances," Adibekyan said.

According to a National Statistical Service’s report titled "Poverty and Social Panorama of Armenia in 2015", based on interviews with 5,184 households, a person needs more than $1,000 per month for a very good life.



"Every year, the humanity produces a wealth worth $120 trillion, which is distributed unevenly among peoples. Fifteen countries with a total population of 4.5 billion people account for almost 70% of this wealth, while the remaining 3 billion living in 227 states get only 30%," said Adibekyan. According to him, even in the EU countries the poverty level reaches 25%, and 20% in the USA.



"Poverty has not only economic foundations, but psychological as well. This phenomenon can have many causes, so the fight against poverty is a little more difficult," Adibekyan added. He said Armenia ranks 135th in the world in terms of GDP.



In 2016 Armenia’s economy grew 0.2%. According to preliminary data of the National Statistical Service, the country’s GDP amounted to 5.067.8 trillion drams or about $10.5 billion (the USD exchange rate in 2016 was 480.49 drams). -0-





15:31 17.10.2017