According to UN projections, at the best 3 million people will live in Armenia in 2050, at the worst – 1.5 million. During the last ten years, at least 320 thousand people irrevocably left our country, and each year 35-45 thousand children are born, instead of 90 thousand in 1980. What methods can be used to promote the growth of births and immigration stopped, which is more urgent, stopping immigration, or stimulating the morbidity growth? To these questions of “Aravot”, the demographer Ruben Eganyan answered,- “If we assess in the sense of urgency, I think, that parallel steps should be made, because the factors and the causes of both outflow of people and decrease in the number of births are the same. If we somehow increase only morbidity without changing the situation in the country when there are no jobs, when there is a complicated political and economic situation, it means that we give birth to people who will be emigrated tomorrow, leave our country. If people have no chance to realize themselves, they will leave … So, first of all, the situation should be improved in all levels, there should be so much significant improvement that the feeling of desperateness in people disappears. A complex treatment is required. People must realize that our country has future, we can live, there is a freedom, opportunities … if it happens, less people will leave, and it will solve dual problem, on
the one hand, people will have children here, on the other hand, it would be easier to conduct supportive measures for morbidity.” To our questions whether the actions taken by the government for promoting the birth growth, increase in welfare for the third child, etc., have left any impression, Mr. Eganyan answered,- “I think that these steps are not serious, they have no significant impact on the situation. What do you think, what difference can the money given for the first and the second child, AMD 50 thousand, and AMD 400 thousand for the third child make? Do you know of any serious person who will give birth to the first and the second child, and then the third one for AMD 430 thousand? This program is also somehow dangerous, because not serious people can go for it and we will later have social problems, because the government will have to take care of the children for whom their parents do not take care of.”
Melania BARSEGHYAN
