YEREVAN. – According to the World Bank (WB) estimates, those in the Republic of Armenia (RA) who spend less than 5 US dollars a day constitute 76 percent of the country’s population; this is noted in the recent WB report, according to 168 Zham daily newspaper.

“And the WB considers those who spend less than 5 dollars a day to be poor.

“The thing is that the WB presents the poverty level with two separate standards. One, from the viewpoint of spending 2.5 dollars a day; the other, from the viewpoint of spending 5 dollars a day. From the viewpoint of [spending] 2.5 dollars, the poverty level in Armenia amounted to 26%, in 2014.

“According to the RA National Statistical Service [(NSS)], poverty rate in the republic amounted to 30%, at the end of 2014 (2 percentage points less, as compared to 2013).

“With the NSS methodology, those, whose consumption per adult was below the upper general line of poverty (in 2014, this was 40,264 drams [approx. US$84] per month), were assessed as poor,” 168 Zham wrote.