On 08 October 2013, at Yerevan Armenia Marriott Hotel, a conference titled “Demographic Challenges in Armenia” was launched with participation of academicians from Armenia, USA, Australia, and representatives from RA Government, RA National Assembly, and international organizations. The purpose of the conference that was organized by RA Ministry of Labor and Social Issues and UNFPA Armenia Country was to present in depth studies of the country’s demographic issues and outline solutions to them.

Participants of the conference were greeted by Mr. Arayik Petrosyan, First Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Issues of RA, Mr. Tevan Poghosyan, Member of RA National Assembly, and Mr. Bradley Busetto, UN Resident Coordinator, UNFPA Representative. In particular, Mr. Busetto mentioned that it is crucial for the development and future prosperity of this country to timely formulate necessary policies that would not only mitigate the negative consequences of the population challenges, but also would extract the inherent opportunities contained in every challenge and put them to life.

The conference reports covered the most painful demographic issues for Armenia including the population decline, emigration and labour migration, low fertility, etc. Presentations by Dr. Victor Agadjanian, Professor, Arizona State University and Dr. Arusyak Sevoyan, ARC DECRA Fellow, the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre, The University of Adelaide targeted the effects of international labour migration on rural households in Armenia contraception and abortion in a low fertility setting viewed from the perspective of seasonal migration.

The issue of population decline was covered by a presentation by Elena Muradyan, Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University. The report was based on a comprehensive study of the issue, supported by Kololian Foundation. Government policies on tackling low fertility were presented by Mr. Vanik Babajanyan, Head of Demographic Division, Ministry of Labor and Social Issues of RA.

As was mentioned by Mr. Arayik Petrosyan, Deputy Minister, the outcomes of the conference outcomes would largely serve as a basis for formulation of the national demographic policy that would target the major demographic challenges that the country is facing.