The Aging of Armenian Population May Increase Exponentially

In the session of August 2, government will discuss the approval of the project on the resolution of the problems arising from the consequences of the population’s aging and the strategy of the social protection of the elderly and the implementation of the actions of the strategy from 2012-2016. The necessary financial resources for the implementation of the project will be calculated and included in the projects of applications of annual state budget from 2012-2016, according to the action plan consisting of 31 measures.
According to RA NSS data, the number of pensioners aging 63 and above, based on the data of July 1, 2011, amounted to 376.1 thousand, or to 11.5% of the total population of Armenia. The number of those aging 85 and above is about 11.5 thousand, and those of 100 and above is 126. In fact, in the total number of the elderly, the density of women is high: the higher is the age group, the more is the density of women, which is the result of relatively higher rate of the average life expectancy of women. Thus, the life expectancy in Armenia is 73.9 years, in fact, for men it is 70.6 and for women it is 77.0 years. The 17.5% of the elderly, which is 57205 people, has disabilities, which comprises the 32.4% of 176 485 disabled people.
The project, prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, notes that according to internationally accepted democratic norms, Armenia is considered as aging country. "If a large-scale migration inflow of pre-pension age people or a sharp rise in birth-rate does not occur (both are unlikely), than the phenomenon of aging of the population in Armenia will step up, and the country will face serious social-economic complex problems, which require resolution,” the document submitted to the approval of the Government reads.
According to the grounding of the authors of the project, the adoption of the strategy is necessary from the point of the implementation of the international obligations undertaken by the RA, and besides, Armenia doesn’t have any document stating the directions of state policy in the field of social protection of the elderly and the aging problems.
At present, the elderly are provided with social, medical, legal and psychological services through social protection system, but it still is not enough to ensure a dignified life for the elderly, in particular, increase in pensions, expansion of different forms of social assistance, providing of high-quality and affordable health care and social services, improvement of housing conditions, etc.