Increasing employment and the level of education is in the government’s agenda and theEmployment Strategy of Azerbaijan for 2019-2030 pans out schemes to reduce them to 15 percent of the share of people between 15 and 24 years of age, the most vulnerable group, not enrolled in the labor market or without education.

Mammadov certainly does not feel as optimistic - he joins Asker, an old schoolmate, in his 1980s Moskvich and drive outside town, hoping to scrape up some money as a daily labourer in one of the farms that dots the countryside.

“Daily labour does not come as often as in the past. Yes, you were overloaded with work and got little money in return, but at least it was something. The devaluation of the manat in 2015 hit entrepreneurs who went bankrupt, so job opportunities dived. Now, those who managed to survive employ their relatives, to support them,” sighs Mammadov.

After 20 minutes passed between complaints about the lack of work and bumps on the muddy road, the Moskvich enters the village of Penser and heads to the farm of an acquaintance of Asker’s who has provided daily work for a few friends of his. Yet, business is not as good as usual - there is nothing for Mammadov: the farmer says he has been hardly been able to pay wages over the last three months. Family-run farms like his struggle. The largest facilities with modern technologies keep small farmers out of business, and they are government-backed.

“So you will need a job for yourself soon,” grins Mammadov.

Astara is a complex region. A short walk from the main city, also known as Azerbaycan Astarasi, takes you across the border to the homonym Iranian town - one name for two cities in two countries whose history of tense relations means long queues and eternal border control. The local economy revolves around agriculture, tea and citrus mainly with farms also engaged in livestock breeding, fishing and beekeeping. Azerbaijan’s state budget forecast for 2019 states that Astara joined the districts not requiring government subsidies as the region’s income can meet its expenses. Most small farmers however do not harvest the fruit of this alleged wealth. Despite the land reform carried out since the collapse of the Soviet Union, small farms cannot compete with large businesses and face problems like limited access to water, high prices of fertilizer and the lack of funds to purchase modern machinery.

As employment is hard to come by people are increasingly tempting luck - and turn to gambling. Sport betting facilities have mushroomed since 2011 when the government relaxed a ban introduced in 1998 in “a morality drive” in the aftermath of a scandal which involved the current President Ilham Aliyev. Casinos are still prohibited, but lotteries and sport betting thrive, the latter monopolized by TOPAZ, the country’s largest operator of online sportbooks. In Astara, like across the country, the customers’ age ranges between 20 and 35 years of age.