"Strong Armenia": Government combating poverty only  on paper

ArmInfo.The Armenian government's new needs-assessment system, initially piloted in the Syunik region, has led to a sharp decline in the number of family  allowance recipients and a deterioration in the social welfare of  vulnerable groups, as stated by Irina Yolyan, former deputy head of  the Goris community and a member of the "Strong Armenia" opposition  bloc, on her Facebook page.

According to Yolyan, the pilot program resulted in 869 families being  stripped of their family benefits within a single year. The number of  social assistance recipients dropped from 1,219 to 350 families, a  reduction of 71%.

"Through these mechanical cuts, the government is 'combating poverty'  on paper. But have these families become wealthier in one year? Of  course not. I do not advocate for long-term welfare dependency, as it  does not solve the country's poverty problem. However, for a person  to exit the welfare system, the state has an obligation to create  conditions and generate jobs," the representative noted.

Yolyan emphasized that the issue is not the cancellation of benefits  itself, but the fact that the state has done nothing to improve the  quality of life for these families, while simultaneously stripping  them of the minimal assistance they relied upon. She pointed out that  no significant job creation has occurred in Goris or the wider Syunik  region.

"When you fail to create jobs but proceed to cut benefits, the  situation for poor families only worsens. As of July 1, this system  will be implemented nationwide. Following the government's  'light-handed' approach, thousands of families in other regions will  begin to 'instantaneously enrich themselves' starting tomorrow," she  concluded.

It's worth noting that in a November 2025 study, the World Bank  projected a decline in Armenia's poverty rate—based on the Purchasing  Power Parity (PPP) index of $8.3 per day (a figure updated in  2021)—from 56.2% in 2024 to 53.1% by 2027. According to the same  study, the poverty rate in Armenian villages was 63.3% in 2023,  compared to 52% in urban areas. Approximately 45% of the country's  poor population resided in rural areas, accounting for 41% of  Armenia's total population. The study further reported that the  poverty rate in Armenia by the PPP indicator was 55.7% in 2022, 56.9%  in 2023, and 56.2% in 2024.