Armenia Achieves Historically Lowest Poverty Rate, Says Prime Minister

According to the latest statistical data from 2019, the government was able to reduce the poverty rate by 2.2 percentage points during 2018, bringing it down to 23.5%. This was announced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a cabinet meeting on February 27.

“The extreme poverty rate during the same period decreased from 1.2% to 1%. In fact, Armenia has the historically lowest level of poverty,” said Pashinyan. He pointed out that the methodology used to calculate poverty was implemented in 2009.

Pashinyan reminded that the new government’s program aims to eradicate extreme poverty by 2023. “The 2019 figures give us confidence that this is indeed a feasible goal,” the Prime Minister emphasized. He also added that in 2019, the average nominal monthly salary in the country increased by 5.8%.