EXTREME POVERTY REDUCES 51% IN ARMENIA BETWEEN 2004 AND 2008

ARKA
Oct 28, 2009

YEREVAN, October 28. /ARKA/. Extreme poverty rate has lowered 51%
in Armenia over the period between 2004 and 2008 to 3.1% in 2008,
Diana Martirosova, chief of Armenian National Statistical Service’s
division on households, said on Wednesday.

She said more than 100,000 of 350,000 people booked in 2004 as
extremely poor have managed to come out of poverty.

The poor constituted 23.5% of the country population in 2008, while
in 2004 they made 32.1% (32.1% reduction).

"Extreme poverty is reducing faster. It reduced 51% to 3.1% in 2008
against 6.4% in 2004," Martirosova said.

She said that in 2008 poverty became not so profound and sharp as
in 2004.

"But despite that, poverty is still a grave problem for Armenia,
since 760,000 are still live in poverty and 100,000 of them in
extreme penury."

Martirosova said that the stable economic growth recorded in recent
years has contributed a great deal to poverty reduction in Armenia.

"Stable economic development, narrowing gap between low- and
high-income people and constant inflow of money transfers from the
outside contributed to consumption growth in the country."

According to National Statistical Service, the average monthly
consumption grew 35.8% in Armenia in 2008, compared with 2004.

Penury was reducing in cities faster than in rural areas.

Remarkable is that other cities, not Yerevan, have benefited from
the economic growth between 2004 and 2008.

The gap between low- and high-income people narrowed as well.

Inequality of consumption measured by Gini coefficient grew to
0.272 in 2008 against 0.260 in 2004, while the gap between low-
and high-income people narrowed to 0.389 in 2008 against 0.395 in 2004.