PRESS RELEASE
United Nations Development Programme / Armenia
14 Petros Adamyan St., Yerevan 0010
Contact: Mr. Hovhannes Sarajyan, Communications Associate
Tel: +37410 566 073
E-mail: hovhannes.sarajyan@undp.org<mailto:hovhannes.sa rajyan@undp.org>
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2009 Human Development Report was launched in Yerevan
Yerevan, 27 October, 2009 – "Mobility is a key element of human
freedom. Movement typically benefits migrants, their families and
source and destination communities. But the full potential of
migration to enhance human development is constrained by barriers of
movement," according to the 2009 Human Development Report (HDR).
The HDR, which is an independent report commissioned and published
annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), tackles
pressing global challenges. The 2009 Report, which is titled
Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development, was presented in
Yerevan today with participation of Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident
Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative (UN RC/UNDP RR), Mr. Vache
Terteryan, First Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration of the
Republic of Armenia and Ms. Irina Davtyan, Deputy Head of Migration
Agency under the Ministry of Territorial Administration.
More than one in seven of the world’s population is a migrant and the
majority of them – over 700 million – are internal migrants, while
over 200 million are international migrants. Fewer than 70 million
international migrants move from a developing to a developed
country. Most of the world’s international migrants move from one
developing country to another or between developed countries. Nearly
half of all international migrants move within their region of origin
and about 40 percent move to a neighboring country. 48 percent of all
international migrants are women and this share has been quite stable
during the past five decades: it stood 47 percent in 1960.
"The 2009 HDR sets out the case for migration’s contribution to human
development and provides the guidance to governments to fully realize
this potential. However, the migration cannot be a substitute for
comprehensive domestic programmes to reduce poverty and foster
development. Therefore, governments should maximize the gains from
migration by mainstreaming human mobility into national development
and poverty reduction strategies," said Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UN RC/UNDP
RR addressing the participants of the launching ceremony.
Migrants’ gains are often shared with their families and communities
at home. In many cases this is in the form of remittances, but the
families of migrants may benefit in other ways too. These "social
remittances," as they are called, include higher school enrolment
rates, the empowerment of women and reductions in fertility. Research
for the report found that migrants from the poorest countries gained
the most, and, on average, saw a 15-fold increase in income, a
doubling in education in enrolment rates and a 16-fold reduction in
child mortality after moving to a developed country.
Contrary to commonly held beliefs, migrants typically boost economic
output. Immigration generally increases employment in host
communities, does not move out locals from the job market and improves
rates of investment in new businesses. Overall, the impact of migrants
on public finances is relatively small, while it has a positive impact
in other areas, such as social diversity and innovation. Moreover,
migration often liberates women and leads to significant gains in
their income, levels of empowerment and education, but it also
presents risks of exploitation and harsh conditions.
Armenia has an emigration rate of 20.3%. The major continent of
destination for migrants from Armenia is Europe with 78.2% of
emigrants living there. In Armenia, there are around 492,000 migrants
which represent 16.1% of the total population.
The HDR argues that governments should undertake a series of policy
reforms to maximize the benefits of migration and to better ensure the
rights of migrants. The Report lays out a core package of reforms, six
‘pillars’ that call for:
* Opening existing entry channels for more workers, especially those
with low skills;
* Ensuring basic human rights for migrants, from basic
services, like education and healthcare, to the right to vote;
* Lowering the transaction costs of migration;
* Finding collaborative solutions that benefit both destination
communities and migrants;
* Easing internal migration; and
* Adding migration as a component for origin countries’ development
strategies.
"Sustainable human development is a critical area of UNDP’s work. We
focus among, others, on reduction of regional disparities, income and
employment generation, food security, healthcare and child protection
issues, which are reflected in the 2010-2015 UN Cooperation Framework
with the Government of Armenia," stated the UN RC/UNDP RR.
Also presented today, as part of the 2009 HDR, was the latest Human
Development Index (HDI) – a summary indicator of people’s well-being,
combining measures of life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and
GDP per capita (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP). It shows
that despite progress in many areas over the last 25 years, the
disparities in people’s well-being in rich and poor countries continue
to be unacceptably wide. These HDI results, however, do not reflect
the effects of the global economic and financial crisis, which is
expected to have a huge impact on human development achievements in
many countries across the world.
This year’s HDI, based on 2007 data, was calculated for 182 countries
and territories, the most extensive coverage ever. The 2009 HDR
introduces a new top country category: Very High Human Development,
which shows that people living in countries in the higher human
development categories can expect to be better educated, to live
longer and to earn more.
The HDI for Armenia is 0.798, which gives the country a rank of 84th
out of 182 countries and is an improvement of 0.023 points compared to
the last HDI value. This improvement is largely due to the increase in
GDP per capita. Between 1990 and 2007 Armenia’s HDI rose by 0.51%
annually. Armenia holds the first place in the category "Medium Human
Development" and is followed by Ukraine and Azerbaijan
respectively. Iran and Georgia are in 88th and 89th places, while
Russia and Turkey are respectively 71st and 79th in the HDI ranking.
The top three ranked countries in the HDI are, in order, Norway,
Australia and Iceland. The bottom three ranked countries are Niger,
Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.
Trends in the HDI since 1980 show significant advances in human
development, with an average improvement of 15 percent in countries’
HDI scores. The strongest gainers have been China, Iran and Nepal. Yet
progress has been much more significant in education and health than
on the income front.
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UNDP is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and
connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help
people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries,
working with them on their own solutions to global and national
development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on
the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners. UNDP in Armenia was
established in 1993 and supports the Government of Armenia to reach
its own development priorities and the Millennium Development Goals by
2015.