The problem of demography and aging population still remains one of   the vital problems of Armenia

ArmInfo. The problem of demography and the rapidly aging population are still one of  Armenia's most pressing problems. This problem did not passed aside the smallest district of Armenia Vayots Dzor.

According to the head of the Vayotsdzor regional agency of the  national statistical service Arushan Ghazaryan, according to the  population census in 2011, 52.5 thousand people lived in the region,  whereas this year this figure is already 50.3 thousand. "The peak of  migration came for 2015-16. It was during these years that most  people left the region, today the rural population of the region is  32.7 thousand, and the urban population is 17.6 thousand. It is  noteworthy that not only external migration is observed in the  region, but also internal migration. According to my observations, if  earlier there was mass urbanization, then today there is a reverse  process. Many people move to the villages, settle down and, thanks to  employment in the agricultural sphere, provide their daily daily  bread, "Ghazaryan said.

At the same time he highlighted a very important problem of the  region, namely the problem of demography. According to him, due to  serious migration, today the natural increase in the population in  the region is at zero level, and the death rate exceeds the birth  rate, that is, the population of the region is rapidly aging. It is  noteworthy that a similar picture is observed in all regions of the  republic. Ghazaryan said that to date, 19.7% of the region's  population are children under 4 years old; 67.3% - from 4 to 65  years; and accordingly 13% of citizens are over 65 years old.

Meanwhile, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Artem Asatryan  assured that today in his ministry is developing projects that will  seriously change the demographic situation in the country in the best  direction.  "It's no secret that today the situation with demography  is of concern to us, but I want to emphasize that this issue is at  the center of our attention. To improve the situation, we need to  ensure the fulfillment of three important tasks: the first is the  increase in the birth rate in the republic because we have the  necessary potential and we just need to remove the obstacles, the  second is to ensure the mechanical growth of the population. "The  President of Armenia set before us the task of bringing the number of  people in the short term to 4 million, and today, projects are being  developed to fulfill the set goal, and the last is to improve the  quality of life of the population of Armenia. "I am deeply convinced  that the successful fulfillment of these three tasks will allow us to  change the demographic indicators in the country in the most serious  way," Asatryan said.

According to the Minister, today one child of childbearing age in  Armenia has 1.6 children, meanwhile, it is possible to bring this  figure from 2 to 2.2 children. Asatryan stated that, unfortunately,  today there is quite a troubling picture in the villages of Armenia,  and if earlier there were 2.3 children in the village for one woman  of childbearing age, today this figure fell to the level of 1.5.  Meanwhile, in the cities the situation is more encouraging, the  minister is convinced, since before if one child had 1.6 children,  today this figure is 1.65 and there is a small positive dynamics.  Asatryan is convinced that if the appropriate favorable conditions  are created in the regions-namely, jobs, constant income, then it is  possible to improve the indicators by 50%. "One of the projects that  will contribute to the increase in the birth rate is the provision of  affordable housing for young families, another way, the project of  repatriation of our citizens to their homeland will ensure the  necessary population growth," the minister said. But, unfortunately,  he could not explain how the state intends to return those who have  already left the republic, in the majority of cases because of social  problems, citizens.

At the same time, the minister assured that one of the most important  factors in stimulating the birth rate is the availability of work,  stable incomes and the possibility of caring for the child. According  to him, one of the steps in this direction is a bill on subsidizing  the state money for a nanny, which, if approved by the parliament,  will enter into force on January 1, 2018 and according to which, the  state will pay up to 55 a month to those who want to return to work  thousand AMD, instead of the current 18 thousand. "We will also carry  out the certification of each region, city, community, which will  identify the existing problems and outline their possible solutions  as quickly as possible." We are also concerned about the problem of  reproduction, as according to the indicators, the birth of the first  child is acute in Armenia today over many years trying to overcome  the problem of infertility. If we can solve this issue, we can  increase the birthrate by several tens of thousands, "the Minister  said.

Meanwhile, a visit to a number of Vayots Dzor communities showed that  the most acute problem of these villages today is the lack of normal  communication. The villagers have to spend for this 3-5 km of the  road from 40 minutes to one hour. So the people of the community of  Ger assured that the lack of normal roads creates for them serious  obstacles in terms of selling their own products, as the cost of  goods increases several times because of the increase in the cost of  its delivery to the city. A similar problem was in Zedea's community.  Another problem voiced by community residents in the Vayots Dzor Marz  is the issue of preschool education, employment of children, the need  to go to a neighboring community to high school students to attend  high school. So Hasmik Ghazaryan, a resident of Zedea community, told  that she decided to leave the city of Yerevan in the late 80's with  her parents, because of difficult social conditions. "I got  acquainted with my future husband here in Zedea and they came here  with my family from Azerbaijan's Nakhijevan in 1988. You know, then  there were anti-Armenian sentiments in Azerbaijan, it was not safe to  stay there, we have three children. The problem of communication is  acute, as high school students are forced to go to the city of Vayk  in high school, in the winter it is very difficult, because the roads  are not enough to sweep, so not every transport is able to get here.  And on foot to send your child the same unsafe but the children are  very tired, and the closure of our school, where only 11 students,  will lead to the extinction of the village, since neither family will  agree to live where there is not even elementary school, and  naturally they will prefer to leave, "Hasmik said.

The conversation with the community residents revealed one important  problem, namely, the lack of public confidence in the authorities,  the sense of uselessness when a person is left alone with his own  problems, and until the authorities solve this important problem,  serious demographic changes are not expected.

Note, recently the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law of the  National Academy of Sciences with the support of the Armenian  Sociological Association published a monograph "Migration and  Depopulation in Armenia." The authors of the monograph are the  director of the institute, academician Gevorg POGHOSYAN and his  colleagues Irina ARAKELIAN and Vladimir OSIPOV. In an interview with  the newspaper "Golos Armenii" Pogosyan noted that the outflow of the  population from Armenia is an extremely stable process. "According to  our forecasts, coinciding with the forecasts of the UN, the  population of Armenia by 2050 under the optimistic scenario will be  2.7 million people, and under the pessimistic scenario - 1.5 million.  It is clear that migration as a phenomenon is characteristic of the  whole world, moreover, the world developed through migration. It's  another matter when in a given country migration takes a threatening  character when it comes to the situation that scientists describe as  depopulation, "the scientist said. As the main causes of  depopulation, Poghosyan called the fall in the birth rate, the aging  of the population and the third - its outflow. "In Armenia, over the  past 25 years, the birth rate has fallen by half. If in the Soviet  period 75-80 thousand children were born in Armenia every year, now  this figure is 30-35 thousand. This is a sign of depopulation. The  second sign is the aging of the population. When the proportion of  people older than 60 starts to grow, this is the demographic  indicator of the country is aging. In Armenia, this figure is 12.9%.  And the third cause of depopulation is the outflow of population.  Over the last quarter century our population has decreased by 33%,  "the scientist said.