ARMENIAN POPULATION TO DECREASE BY 6% TILL 2025
arminfo
2007-08-14 13:56:00
World Bank experts forecast reduction of the Armenian population by 6%
(200,000 people) by 2025, WB Report on Demographics in Eastern Europe
and for Soviet Union says.
The countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are
experiencing a third transition, a transition that overlaps with
their recent political and economic transitions. Populations have
been aging quite rapidly in many countries. The report says that by
2025, the population of Russia will decrease by 12% (17.3 million
people), Ukraine – by 24% (11.8 million people), Belarus by 14%
(11.4 million people), Georgia by 17% (800,000 people), Lithuania –
by 11% (400,000 people), Latvia by 13% (300,000 people), Moldova – 7%
(300,000 people), Kazakhstan by 2% (300,000 people), and Estonia by 9%
(100,000 people). Quite on the contrary, the population in Uzbekistan
will increase by 9.3 million people, in Tajikistan by 2.6 million
people, in Turkmenistan by 1.6 million people, in Azerbaijan by 1.5
million people and in Kyrghyzstan by 1.3 million people. Generally,
over the coming 20 years, the total population in Eastern Europe and
former USSR will decrease by 24 million people.
In 2025, more than one in five people in the region will be more
than 65 years old. The experts say the processes in the former
Soviet Union are almost similar to those in Eastern Europe in 1970
i.e. birth-rate decline and longevity growth. For instance, Ukraine
has common demographic features with Great Britain, and common living
standards with Venezuela.
Experts say the most serious problem in the former Soviet Union is
pension provision. Most of people in the region are unable to secure
their old age.
The way out of the situation is increase in labor productivity and
social reforms.