ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Jan 14 2008

Poverty among employed to be reduced to 5% in Armenia by 2015

YEREVAN, January 14. /ARKA/. Poverty among the employed will be
reduced to 5% by 2015 against 22% in 2006, according to the revised
Poverty Reduction Strategic Program (PRSP -2) 2008-2021.

In 1999-2000 the poverty index was 50% in Armenia. Thus, almost half
of the employed were poor during that period, said Melik Gasparian,
member of the PRSP expert group. He stated that the poverty index
will be reduced in the future as well.

According to PRSP-2, poverty among the employed will be fully
eliminated by 2021. Gasparian pointed out that the human development
index (HDI) will be raised by 0.87pct, which was 0.768pct in 2006.

The RA Government adopted the Poverty Reduction Strategic Program
2003-2015 on August 8, 2003. The program is being revised at present.

According to the draft program, poverty index will be reduced to 6%
in Armenia by 2021, while the extreme poverty will be eliminated in
the country by 2017. -0–