For a Nourished Nation: Report shows progress, but says more needed
Issue #40 (210), October 27, 2006
Armenianow
Sara Khojoyan
Armenianow reporter
Despite double-figure indicators of economic growth registered in recent years, Armenia is still on the same list with Eastern European and CIS countries, where much of the population is undernourished.
According to the Sixth World Food Survey by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO) published October 31, 29 percent of Armenia’s population is undernourished. (According to FAO: “Undernourishment refers to the condition of people whose dietary energy consumption is continuously below a minimum dietary energy requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out a light physical activity”.)
“If in the middle of 90s the prevailing part of the country - 52 percent - was deprived of adequate access to food, today that figure has reduced to 29 percent,” says the Survey.
Different reasons conditioning undernourishment are brought: wars, natural disasters, and, as a consequence, extreme poverty.
According to the Survey, among the former USSR countries in this respect the best is the situation in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
While acknowledging progress: “Armenia along with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan holds the last positions on the list,” according to the UN experts.
“The Government has succeeded in reducing poverty indicator in the country,” said RA Prime-Minister Andranik Margaryan interpreting the Survey, adding that some years ago the poverty indicator in Armenia was 55 percent, which has been reduced due to complex works foreseen by the government-established poverty reduction program.
(According to the RA National Statistical Service poverty indicator in 2005 was 29.8 percent, 4.6 percent out of which were extremely poor.)
Despite the progress, FAO experts say Armenia’s indicators are “alarming”.
As opposed to Armenia, its neighbors - Georgia and Azerbaijan- are, the Survey says, countries that have shown most serious progress in this field among all the CIS “countries in transition”.
If in 1993-1995 the number of people “on the verge of famine” in Georgia and Azerbaijan reached 2.5 million, a few years later – in 2001-2003- that number was reduced to 700,000.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Armenianow
Sara Khojoyan
Armenianow reporter
Despite double-figure indicators of economic growth registered in recent years, Armenia is still on the same list with Eastern European and CIS countries, where much of the population is undernourished.
According to the Sixth World Food Survey by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO) published October 31, 29 percent of Armenia’s population is undernourished. (According to FAO: “Undernourishment refers to the condition of people whose dietary energy consumption is continuously below a minimum dietary energy requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out a light physical activity”.)
“If in the middle of 90s the prevailing part of the country - 52 percent - was deprived of adequate access to food, today that figure has reduced to 29 percent,” says the Survey.
Different reasons conditioning undernourishment are brought: wars, natural disasters, and, as a consequence, extreme poverty.
According to the Survey, among the former USSR countries in this respect the best is the situation in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
While acknowledging progress: “Armenia along with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan holds the last positions on the list,” according to the UN experts.
“The Government has succeeded in reducing poverty indicator in the country,” said RA Prime-Minister Andranik Margaryan interpreting the Survey, adding that some years ago the poverty indicator in Armenia was 55 percent, which has been reduced due to complex works foreseen by the government-established poverty reduction program.
(According to the RA National Statistical Service poverty indicator in 2005 was 29.8 percent, 4.6 percent out of which were extremely poor.)
Despite the progress, FAO experts say Armenia’s indicators are “alarming”.
As opposed to Armenia, its neighbors - Georgia and Azerbaijan- are, the Survey says, countries that have shown most serious progress in this field among all the CIS “countries in transition”.
If in 1993-1995 the number of people “on the verge of famine” in Georgia and Azerbaijan reached 2.5 million, a few years later – in 2001-2003- that number was reduced to 700,000.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Labels: Armenia
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