Armenia to address issues arising from implementation of family  welfare assessment system

ArmInfo. Armenia will address issues arising from the pilot program for the implementation of the family welfare assessment system, currently being implemented in the Kotayk and Syunik regions. The RA government amended this program at its meeting on June 11.

According to RA Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Arsen Torosyan,  the "Paros" system, which provided financial assistance to citizens,  had previously been used for a long time to assess family welfare. A  pilot program to address this issue was launched in two regions in  the middle of last year, and it will be expanded nationwide on July  1, 2026. However, during the implementation of the pilot program, a  number of issues arose that require clarification. The Minister noted  that applications are currently being accepted from all regions and  Yerevan to determine the level of financial need for families, in  accordance with a new assessment system currently in use in Kotayk  and Syunik. The new system aims to remove people from the system, not  to keep them. In 2017, there were 100,000 families in the Paros  system, but as of June 2026, this number had decreased to 46,000.  Currently, program participants in the Syunik and Kotayk regions  receive an average of 84,000 drams in state financial assistance.  Depending on the family's level of financial need, the maximum  assistance amount is 280,000 drams.

Nevertheless, a number of issues were identified during the pilot  implementation of the system.  Specifically, status is currently  granted only when a family member is enrolled in a current  educational program and is between the ages of 18 and 22, inclusive.  In practice, however, there are often cases where an individual is a  student but not within the specified age group; in these cases, they  are also considered eligible for assistance.

Cases have also been identified where, due to a person's specific  status, there are no objective circumstances for being considered  eligible for assistance, for example, because they are a conscript,  discharged from compulsory military service, or a person released  from serving a sentence in a correctional facility. These individuals  will also be eligible for financial assistance.