YEREVAN. – The number of begging and street children in Armenia has reduced ever since 2002, National Statistical Service official Nelli Baghdasaryan said during a press conference on Friday.  

She informed that in the case when 111 such children were registered at the Police in 2002, this has dropped to eleven in line with last year’s indicator. 

In his turn, Labor and Social Affairs Ministry official Artur Kesoyan stated that the number of such children has reduced because some of them are taken to children’s homes, and therefore they are removed from the Police records.    

But Kesoyan informed that the number of homeless adults has increased at a steady pace in Armenia. In the case when the Center for the Homeless was built to accommodate thirty such people, now, it is modified to provide shelter to sixty homeless. Furthermore, the number of homeless increases towards winter and “there is a lineup” at the Center. Kesoyan, however, denied that they turn down any homeless person who seeks shelter. 

The homeless are provided clothes, hygiene items, and food at the Center for the Homeless.