YEREVAN. – The objective of the government's plan is to eliminate poverty and reduce the scales of poverty by 2023. Zhanna Andreasyan, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, announced this today at the sitting of the National Assembly during the discussion of the package of bill on amendments to the Law on Social Assistance.

According to her, the government seeks to create a single system of assessing the social demands of the population through one office, which will unite the actions of different structures, reduce bureaucratic hassles, and provide high quality services to beneficiaries.

Andreasyan noted that in 2018, extreme poverty in Armenia was 1%, or 30,000 people, and poverty was 23.5%.

"There is a 1- to 2-percent decline compared to 2017," Andreasyan concluded. "We believe that this trend will be maintained."