30.2% of the Armenian population will be over 60 in 2050 and 6.6% will be on the wrong side of 80 – now Armenians over 60 account for 15.1% of the population of the Republic of Armenia and people on the wrong side of 80 account for 2.9%. This means that Armenia is an aging country. The results of a research conducted by the UN Population Fund and HelpAge International were presented at the Henaran club today.
Garik Harutyunyan, the executive representative of the UN Population Fund Armenian Office, says, “The data on our country included in the report are worrisome, in 2050, the number of people over 60 living in Armenia will double increasing from 469 thousand to 885 thousand and the median age will be 49.4 instead of today’s 32.6. This is a huge burden on the state to provide for pensioners.” During a conversation with www.aravot.am, Garik Harutyunyan said that a country’s aging is conditional on 3 factors – decline in fertility rates, migration, when the young and able-bodied part of the society leaves the country, and the longevity of the population.
In response to our question what the first thing necessary for moving from aging to rejuvenation and easing the burden of many pensioners on the state was, Mr. Hayrapetyan said, “One should boost fertility, only 2 countries have managed to do this – those are France and Sweden, which spend about 2 percent of their GDP; it is a huge amount. However, it is not only thanks to the financial support, the spectrum is broad. The demographers proved long ago that benefits alone cannot boost the fertility rate. If a woman has decided to have 2 children, she will have those 2 children, anyway; it is just that instead of 5-year interval, she will have the other child in 2 years. In Armenia, one should start from the second child, not from the third one for whom the benefit is higher. Today, parents don’t give birth to the second child. Boosting the fertility rate should be structuralized – one shouldn’t give cash money, in order that a family takes the money, once it has a child, and pays for its debts, but should invest say in the well-being, education etc. of a child. I don’t think that 1 and 1.5 million AMD to be paid for the 5th child starting next year is the necessary sum for boosting fertility, but it is a serious step too.”
As for the onus of pensioners on the state, according to Garik Harutyunyan, measures have been already taken – those are pension reforms.
Jemma Baghdasaryan, the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, present at the press conference stated during a conversation with us that we would switch to mandatory accumulation system starting from 2014, which would ease the state’s burden to a certain extent, a system of social integration programs would be adopted, which aimed at providing alternative service to old and disabled people and children, “I.e. to create a society for people of all ages.”
Nelly BABAYAN
