YEREVAN. – In 2014 more than a half of all Armenia’s pensioners live below the poverty line, shows the data provided by Labor Minister Artem Asatryan.

Last autumn the Minister pledged increase in annual pensions by nearly 15 percent. The average retirement pension will be increased from 31,300 in 2013 to 36,000, the Minister said.

The number of poor pensioners will decline, nevertheless it remains high.

The data shows 292,000 pensioners live behind the poverty line. If the total number of pensioners reaches nearly 540,000, it appears that around 54% of pensioners live behind the poverty line.