BIRTH RATE DECLINES IN ARMENIA IN PARALLEL WITH INCREASE IN NUMBER OF WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of births has declined
almost twice in Armenia compared with 1998, while the mortality
rate has increased by 32.3%. Karine Kuyumjian, Head of the Census
and Demography Unit of the RA National Statistical Service, stated
this during the February 28 discussion of the draft concept on
state demographic policy of the RA. According to her, about 80
thousand babies were born annually in the 1990s in Armenia, whereas
37 thousand were born in 2006. She noted that birth age coefficient
is important in terms of an increase in births. It was pointed out
that in recent years the number of women of reproductive age (15-45
years) has grown in parallel with a decline in birth rate. In 1990,
there were 909 thousand women of this age in the country, while
today their number makes 922.7 thousand. "So the number of women of
reproductive age has not decreased and we have a birth rate problem,"
K. Kuyumjian noted. It was mentioned that in 2006, 27 thousand deaths
were registered in Armenia against 19 thousand deaths in 1990. In the
words of K. Kuyumjian, the number of deaths among persons aged 60
and over has increased in the total number of deaths. Deaths among
babies up to one year make up 80-85% of the number of deaths among
children aged up to 4 years. By the way, in 1990, the number of deaths
of babies up to one year made 1,465 cases, while in 2006 – 520 cases
(preliminary data).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress