More investment in gender-responsive family support needed to unlock potential, UNFPA says on International Families Day

May 15 is the International day of families. This year, ahead of the Second World Summit for Social Development initiative, it spotlights the pivotal role of family-oriented policies in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“More generous and well-designed family support policies benefit individuals, families, companies, and societies as a whole – and they strengthen countries’ capacity to address demographic change,” said Florence Bauer, UNFPA’s Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “They are a fundamental pathway towards building more inclusive, genuinely equitable, resilient, and ultimately more prosperous societies.”

A new joint UNFPA/UNICEF study, “The Cost of Not Having Gender-Responsive Family Policies,” shows that the lack of policies and support for families benefiting women, men and children carries substantial social and economic costs. 

The study shows that deeply entrenched gender norms across the region continue to assign primary responsibility for caregiving and household work to women. These expectations result in women in Europe and Central Asia spending significantly more time on unpaid care work than men, sometimes five times as much or even more. The limited availability or narrow scope of family policies disproportionately affects women, often forcing them to choose between employment and having children. The resulting lack of access to resources and economic independence, and the underutilization of women's skills and potential, lead to decreased economic productivity and slower overall growth. 

“It is crucial that governments provide comprehensive support throughout all stages of family formation and development, so that decisions about having children — and how many to have — depend entirely on individuals' choices, free from concerns about missing out on education, employment, or other opportunities for personal development,” said Lusine Sargsyan, Head of the UNFPA Armenia Country Office, ”I’m want to emphasis  that Armenia has adopted two landmark documents — the Demographic Strategy and the Gender Strategy. UNFPA supported the development of both, with special attention paid to the challenges families face. I’m hopeful that the actions outlined in these strategies will be implemented, helping to create a more supportive environment for families — which, in turn, will have a positive impact on society and the state.”

What are gender-responsive family policies?

A recent mapping of family policies across 21 countries and territories in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, conducted by UNFPA, shows that while there has been progress across the region, including in Armenia, significant gaps remain. Addressing these gaps could promote a more equitable distribution of parental, caregiving, and domestic responsibilities, reduce the risk of women being excluded from the labor market, narrow the gender pay gap, and increase economic productivity.

Maternity leave

In Armenia, maternity leave lasts 20 weeks. Mothers receive 100 per cent of their previous earnings as cash benefits, though up to a legally defined ceiling. However, the policy is not fully inclusive—for example, self-employed women are not covered. In comparison, across the 21 countries and territories included in the mapping, maternity leave ranges from 16 to 52 weeks, with varying compensation mechanisms, and self-employed mothers are often excluded from benefit systems.

Paternity leave

In Armenia, fathers are entitled to five working days of paternity leave, which is not compensated. In comparison, countries such as Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan provide no paternity leave at all, while in most of the remaining countries, leave is typically short and has inadequate compensation, leading to low uptake among fathers.

Parental leave

In Armenia, parents are entitled to parental leave until the child turns three, amounting to a total of 156 weeks. A flat-rate benefit is provided by the state; however, self-employed parents are not eligible for cash benefits. Armenia, therefore, is among the countries where systems are in place but not universally accessible. Notably, Czechia is the only country among those studied where parental leave is available equally to both mothers and fathers.

Armenia’s Demographic Strategy Action Plan outlines specific measures to promote more equal sharing of caregiving responsibilities between parents, including legislative changes aimed at redesigning the parental leave system.

Carer’s leave

Under Armenian legislation, employees may be granted up to 30 days of unpaid leave per year to care for a family member. While legal provisions exist, cash benefits remain at 0%. Among the countries studied, only six offer paid carer’s leave—and not always in full.

Flexible working arrangements

In Armenia, legal provisions are in place allowing pregnant women and parents of children under one year of age to work part-time. In contrast, while part-time work is common across the region, remote work and flexible schedules are available in fewer countries and are often not equally accessible to all parents.

Early childhood education and care

In Armenia, a national public pre-primary education system is in place starting at age three. From this perspective, Armenia is among 14 countries where there is a significant gap—characterized by a lack of sufficient leave and the absence of affordable, high-quality care for children under age three.

Family and child benefits

Armenia offers several benefit programmes; however, certain groups remain excluded—particularly informal workers or families without an official social status. Moreover, childcare benefits are available only to one employed parent, a trend that is also observed in many other countries.

UNFPA Recommendations

Based on the findings of this mapping, UNFPA recommends the following actions to countries across the region:

• Prioritizing gender-responsive family policies in national policymaking.
• Addressing existing policy gaps and implementation challenges.
• Actively challenging discriminatory gender norms through education and awareness campaigns.
• Promoting the sharing of unpaid care and domestic work among women and men within households.
• Substantially increasing access to affordable, quality early childhood education and care, as well as adequate family and child benefits to reduce the childcare gap.
• Actively encouraging men's uptake of paternity and parental leave through adequate compensation and supportive workplace cultures.
• Strengthening collaboration between governments, the private sector, and civil society to enhance existing provisions and establish new, comprehensive support systems for families.

STATISTICS: Demographic situation in Armenia

Data: Statistical Committee of the RA

Marriages

During the first quarter of 2025 (January–March), 3,032 marriages were registered in Armenia. Looking at the years 2021–2024, the Statistical Committee reports a decline of approximately 10% in the number of marriages over this period.

Mean Age at First Marriage

The mean age at first marriage has increased for both men and women. In 2013, the average age at first marriage was 29.1 for men and 25.8 for women. By 2023, this had risen by around three years, reaching 32.1 for men and 28.5 for women. Compared to 2003, the change is even more notable: 27.4 for men and 22.8 for women

According to the Women and Men in Armenia 2023 report, women continue to marry at younger ages than men. In adulthood, women are more likely to remain widowed, largely due to men’s shorter life expectancy and the age gap at marriage. Additionally, a higher proportion of women remain divorced compared to men, indicating a greater tendency among men to remarry after divorce.

Divorce

During the first quarter of 2025, 1,181 divorces were registered in Armenia. According to the Statistical Committee of Armenia, divorce rates increased by around 5% between 2021 and 2024.

When examining divorces by duration of marriage, the highest proportion occurs after 20 or more years of cohabitation, followed by divorces that take place within the first year of marriage.

Household Composition

According to survey data, in 2023 the average number of household members per permanent population was 3.5, with 3.2 in urban areas and 4.1 in rural areas. For the present population, the averages were 3.4 overall, 3.1 in urban, and 3.9 in rural communities.

In 2023, households with four or fewer members made up 72.8% of all households. Notably, the proportion of single-member households increased from 12.5% in 2013 to 17.6% in 2022–2023.

Larger households (with six or more members) were more common in rural areas, accounting for 22.6% of rural households, compared to 10.7% in urban areas. Most urban households consisted of four or fewer members — 78.7% in urban versus 62.1% in rural communities.

The fertility rate — the average number of children born per woman — has increased in Armenia between 2018 and 2023. But more than half of all Armenian households have no children, while around 20% have two children.

Armenia: Distribution of Households with Children in Urban and Rural Areas by Number of Children, 2021–2023

Source: 2021– 2023 armstat.am

International Context

The World Summit for Social Development builds on the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration, which recognized families as the foundation of society and underscored the need for work-family balance and equal partnerships within households.

The Second World Summit for Social Development will take place in Doha, Qatar on November 2025. The IDF 2025 observance will emphasize the importance of integrating family-focused policies into national development agendas to address megatrends such as technological transformation, demographic shifts, urbanization, migration, and climate change. It will also stress that new policies promoting work–family balance and equality within households are essential to ensuring family well-being.

A Brief History։ In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/47/237, designating 15 May as the International Day of Families. This day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.