While the authorities have been talking for years about creating favorable conditions for living in Armenia, improving the lives of citizens, establishing peace and bringing prosperity, the demographic situation in our country is not improving in any way.

It is not improving because, on the one hand, people are leaving the country, on the other hand, they are not in a hurry to connect their future with Armenia or the Armenian authorities. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the demographic situation in our country is continuously deteriorating.

The birth rate is especially worrying. According to official statistics, the birth rate in Armenia decreased again this year.

9641 children were born in the first 4 months of the beginning of the year.

This is unprecedented in that such a low indicator has not been recorded in at least the last 8 years.

In the last 8 years, there has not been any year when so few children were born in Armenia in the first 4 months of the beginning of the year. Of course, this is not the first year that the birth rate in Armenia is decreasing, but such a low rate has not been recorded. Even in the year of the 44-day war and the year that followed, incomparably more children were born in Armenia than were born this year.

2019 10.5 thousand children were born in the first 4 months, 10.2 thousand in 2020, 11.5 thousand in 2021, 10.7 thousand in 2022, 11.4 thousand in 2023, and 10.5 thousand in 2024.

Last year, more children were born in Armenia than this year, although the number of births dropped below 10,000. This year, the number of births decreased even more. And this is in the case that now the children who were born in Artsakh before are also born in Armenia.

After the depopulation of Artsakh, now the children of Artsakh are also born in Armenia.

We are talking about at least 120 thousand newly born children of Artsakh Armenians. Despite this, the birth rate in Armenia is decreasing, and this year an unprecedentedly low rate was recorded.

The reason for the decrease in the birth rate is not only that people do not have confidence in the future, no matter how much the authorities talk about peace and prosperity. Today, the children of those young people who were sacrificed during the 44-day war and the subsequent period were to be born in Armenia. The sad picture that we have today in terms of birth rate is one of the direct consequences of this, and it will be felt for years to come.

It is the second year that less than 10 thousand children are born in Armenia in the first 4 months of the beginning of the year. Last year, 9.7 thousand were born, this year – 9.6 thousand. Before that, at least in the previous 8 years, there was no case where less than 10,000 children were born in Armenia. In some years, it even exceeded 11 thousand.

For example, in 2021 11.5 thousand children were born in Armenia in the first 4 months. Births exceeded 11 thousand in 2023 as well. In all subsequent years, only a decrease has occurred. Already this year 2021 in comparison, almost 2 thousand less children were born in Armenia. And not counting that the children born in Artsakh at that time were not born in Armenia.

The decrease in the birth rate, which directly affects the demographic picture, is an extremely worrying problem for Armenia. At one time, there was a program by which birth rates were promoted, starting with the third child, they gave 1.5 million drams all at once. They considered that the program has already fulfilled its mission. Last year, they decided to turn 1.5 million AMD into 500 thousand drams for all newly born children.

It is not that as a result of this, significant changes in terms of birth rate were recorded, but it was still a certain stimulus. But they decided that this incentive has exhausted itself.

There are other fertility promotion programs, but they hardly produce any results. It is not surprising that every year fewer children are born in Armenia, and this has its effect on the natural growth of the population.

Instead of increasing the population through natural growth, they fill the country with foreigners. In recent years, the number of foreigners in Armenia has increased significantly. And since they cannot improve the demographic situation of the country with Armenians, they have said more than once that they are going to do it at the expense of settling foreigners in Armenia.

Perhaps there is nothing strange in the fact that the society reacts very strongly to the announcements that 300 thousand Azerbaijanis are going to come to Armenia. No matter how much the authorities try to deny these regularly circulated information, the public does not trust these denials and has good reasons for it.

The demographic picture in Armenia has worsened in recent years and is getting worse not only because births are decreasing, but also because tens of thousands of people have left in recent years. Last year, when only 6-7 thousand more people came from abroad than left, it was almost announced to the whole world that they had recorded a world-level achievement: emigration from Armenia not only stopped, but also immigration began. But before that, about 150,000 people left the country only in the last 4-5 years of the KP government, not a word.

If in 2021 There were about 2.6 million voters in Armenia, already this year their number is within 2.5 million. The number of voters decreased by almost 100 thousand, mainly because people left the country. It has decreased, despite the fact that after the loss of Artsakh, several tens of thousands of Artsakh residents became Armenian citizens and voters.

Even after all this, fewer children were born in Armenia this year than in the last 8 years.

At this pace, it is not difficult to imagine where the country is going. This is how the citizen sees his future in the peaceful, prosperous and prosperous Armenia brought by this government.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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