Despite economic reforms and some recent growth, unemployment and poverty remain widespread in Armenia. Approximately 34 per cent of the population is unemployed and 90 per cent live below the poverty line of US$ 1 per day. Agriculture is the country’s largest labour sector, followed by services and industry. The poorest Armenians are found in rural areas with the least favorable conditions for agricultural activities.

Female-headed households are particularly vulnerable to falling into extreme poverty since women are left alone to shoulder the burdens of household and childcare responsibilities. Another consequence of male migration has been the growth in “parallel families”, where migrant male workers establish another family in their new location. This phenomenon is increasing the number of female-headed households in Armenia and compounding their vulnerability, especially when men return home in poor health or infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

Armenia grants women equal rights under the law, including equal entitlement to education, health care, employment and certain anti-discrimination measures. However, such legislation is not widely applied since Armenia does not have a public agency designed to deal with gender issues.

The National Action Plan 2004-2010 on Improving the Status of Women and Enhancing Their Role in Society emphasizes the need for effective institutions to address women’s issues. The Plan also highlights the unequal participation of women in the country’s political and social spheres and calls for women’s increased involvement in democratization and the development of civil society. To improve the social and economic condition of women, the Plan recommends expanding business opportunities for women, especially in rural areas, and developing national arts and crafts production.

Armenia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper promotes the use of microcredit schemes to help boost women’s employment and entrepreneurship, especially among female-headed households. Additionally, the paper outlines the establishment of quotas to substantially increase women’s participation in governance.

Source: IFAD

Facts and figures There are 3.1 million people living in Armenia; about 52 per cent are women In Armenia, women are more likely to live below the poverty line than men One third of the Armenian population lives in rural areas; about half of these rural inhabitants are women Agriculture employs 45 per cent of the work force in Armenia; almost half of these workers are women Women constitute 66 per cent of the unemployed workers in Armenia On average, women earn about 30 per cent less than their male counterparts Nearly 1 million people have migrated from Armenia since 1991; the vast majority of these migrants are men Female-headed households constitute about 27 per cent of Armenian households Women’s participation in government is very low; for instance, less than 5 per cent of deputies in the Armenian Parliament are women About 83 per cent of the country’s educators are women More statistics Hot links Rural poverty in Armenia IFAD operations in Armenia One woman's business skills benefit the community A flourishing cheese-making business in remote rural Armenia United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau fro Europe and CIS: Armenia profile Contact information Ms. Lenyara Khayasedinova Programme Coordinator Gender Mainstreaming Programme for Central, Eastern Europe and Newly Independent States IFAD Via Paolo di Dono, 44 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 0654592686 Fax: +39 0654593686 l.khayasedinova@ifad.org