Armenia cuts one-off birth payments as birth rate hits 10-year low

Armenia plans to sharply reduce one-off birth payments for third and subsequent children even as the country records its lowest number of births in a decade, prompting criticism from demographers.

At a recent cabinet meeting, the government approved amendments to the laws on state benefits and pensions that would set a lump sum birth allowance of 500,000 drams per child starting 1 September 2026. Under the current system, parents receive 300,000 drams for their first and second child, 1 million drams for the third and fourth, and 1.5 million drams for the fifth and each subsequent child.

The change also comes despite an existing program launched in 2022, under which families receive a monthly allowance of 50,000 drams until a child turns six for every third and subsequent child born after 1 January 2022. The government has now made this program permanent.

Critics say the new flat payment represents a substantial cut for larger families at a time when Armenia faces a deepening demographic decline. According to the Statistical Committee, 23,698 children were born in the first nine months of 2025, the lowest figure for that period in the past ten years.

Former labor and social affairs minister Mesrop Arakelyan called the equalized grant “unacceptable”, arguing that poverty rates rise sharply in families with three or more children.

“While general poverty is around 25%, in families with three children it is twice as high,” Arakelyan told Panorama.am on Tuesday. “When a family has three children, expenses increase, so state support should also be higher. First- and second-child families need this assistance far less than families with three or four children, from whom 500,000 to 1 million drams are effectively being cut.”

He said that if the government wanted equal support per child, it could have raised the payment for all families to 1 million or 1.5 million drams rather than lowering amounts for larger households. He stressed social assistance “must be targeted”.

Demographer Ruben Yeganyan said declining birth numbers reflect a combination of demographic, economic and social factors, including a distorted sex ratio in reproductive-age groups, fewer marriages and persistent economic uncertainty.

“Forming a family is a serious step and having a child even more so,” he said. “Even in Soviet times there was the understanding that the first child affects the family budget modestly, the second noticeably and the third very significantly. Children require expenses.”

Yeganyan added that state programs to boost fertility have had little measurable impact.

Armenia’s demographic challenges have been compounded by the loss of 3,833 people, including 3,755 servicemen and 78 civilians, in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, according to figures recently released by the parliament speaker. 191 people remain missing.