ArmInfo. Starting in 2020, the Armenian government will start implementing new programs to stimulate the birth rate, as well as to promote young families and families with children. This, according to the office of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, he said at a meeting of the Council on improving the demographic situation.
"The government is decisive in improving the demographic situation in the country, so based on the results of discussions at the last meeting, we can fix that in 2020 we will start new programs to stimulate the birth rate, as well as to help young families and families with children," he said.
Thus, according to Avinyan, since 2020:
1. The lump-sum allowance for the birth of the first child will be increased 6-fold from 50 thousand drams to 300 thousand drams. 2. The size of the one-time allowance for the birth of a second child will be doubled – from 150 thousand drams to 300 thousand drams. 3. The monthly allowance for working mothers will be increased by about 41% – from 18 thousand drams to 25 thousand drams. 4. A new type of childcare allowance will be introduced in rural areas: until the child is two years old, mothers will be paid 25.5 thousand drams a month.
5. Work will be carried out to phase out such a vicious phenomenon as the "wait list to kindergartens." In preschool and school institutions, work will be carried out to expand the services of extended care and training, in particular, care will be organized according to the principle of co-financing from 08:30am to 7:00pm. As a result, the working parent should be able to organize the care of the child in preschool or school institutions located near the place of residence or work. 6. Since 2020, ambitious programs will be launched, under which the state will provide both lump-sum cash assistance and prepaid insurance in the regions to purchase housing on a mortgage due to the birth of a child. The preliminary budget of the program will be approximately 500 million drams. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the amount will be more than enough as a start. In parallel, work will be carried out on targeted housing programs in the regions, and the Committee for Urban Planning is already doing this.
According to Tigran Avinyan, these programs are only the beginning, and from 2021 a new national ideology should be discussed. "That is, discussions should be held in advance, but from 2021 three children in a family should become the average norm for us. And all our programs should aim to ensure that from 2021 any average family in Armenia has the desire and opportunity to have at least three children, "he said.
To recall, on August 5, speaking at a rally in Stepanakert, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan named bringing the country's population to 5 million by 2050 among the global challenges facing the state.