In 2020, measures to improve demography will be introduced in  Armenia: Avinyan announces new programs to stimulate fertility and  assist young families

ArmInfo. Starting in 2020, the Armenian government will start implementing new programs to stimulate the birth rate, as well as to promote young families and families  with children. This, according to the office of Deputy Prime Minister  Tigran Avinyan, he said at a meeting of the Council on improving the  demographic situation.

"The government is decisive in improving the demographic situation in  the country, so based on the results of discussions at the last  meeting, we can fix that in 2020 we will start new programs to  stimulate the birth rate, as well as to help young families and  families with children," he said.

Thus, according to Avinyan, since 2020:

1. The lump-sum allowance for the birth of the first child will be  increased 6-fold from 50 thousand drams to 300 thousand drams.  2.  The size of the one-time allowance for the birth of a second child  will be doubled - from 150 thousand drams to 300 thousand drams.  3.  The monthly allowance for working mothers will be increased by about  41% - from 18 thousand drams to 25 thousand drams.  4. A new type of  childcare allowance will be introduced in rural areas: until the  child is two years old, mothers will be paid 25.5 thousand drams a  month.

5. Work will be carried out to phase out such a vicious phenomenon as  the "wait list to kindergartens." In preschool and school  institutions, work will be carried out to expand the services of  extended care and training, in particular, care will be organized  according to the principle of co-financing from 08:30am to 7:00pm. As  a result, the working parent should be able to organize the care of  the child in preschool or school institutions located near the place  of residence or work.  6. Since 2020, ambitious programs will be  launched, under which the state will provide both lump-sum cash  assistance and prepaid insurance in the regions to purchase housing  on a mortgage due to the birth of a child. The preliminary budget of  the program will be approximately 500 million drams. According to the  Deputy Prime Minister, the amount will be more than enough as a  start.  In parallel, work will be carried out on targeted housing  programs in the regions, and the Committee for Urban Planning is  already doing this.

According to Tigran Avinyan, these programs are only the beginning,  and from 2021 a new national ideology should be discussed. "That is,  discussions should be held in advance, but from 2021 three children  in a family should become the average norm for us. And all our  programs should aim to ensure that from 2021 any average family in  Armenia has the desire and opportunity to have at least three  children, "he said.

To recall, on August 5, speaking at a rally in Stepanakert, Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan named bringing the country's population to 5  million by 2050 among the global challenges facing the state