At Thursday's cabinet meeting of the government, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reflected on the poverty figures in Armenia.

"I have to record that in 2021, poverty in Armenia was 26.5 percent. Moreover, if we are comparing with 2020, we have a certain decrease in poverty, whereas compared to 2019, we have an increase in poverty by 0.1 percentage point," said Pashinyan.

He noted that starting from 2019, the poverty indicator in Armenia is calculated with a new methodology.

"That is, we cannot compare the data before 2019 with the data available after that. Compared to 2019, we have a 0.1-percent increase in extreme poverty; and compared to 2020, extreme poverty had an increase of 0.8 percent. This figure shows that our measures against the covid crisis in 2020 have been highly targeted. That is, as a result of our measures, we have reduced extreme poverty by half; but since the anti-crisis programs have ended, it has increased a little," said Pashinyan.

Also, he noted with regret that they do not have more operational data on poverty indicators in Armenia.

"I was assured that it is an international standard, no country has operational data for the given year. In any case, I have given the relevant instruction that we should deeply analyze the structure of our poverty and develop a strategy for overcoming poverty within the framework of our ideology. And the ideology is as follows: poverty can be overcome only through work; there is no other option," said the Armenian prime minister.