In his speech at Armenian Economic Union’s annual conference opening, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan noted that the poverty rate in the republic is about 30%, Haykakan Zhamanak daily reported.

The figure implies that over 1 mln of Armenian population lives below the poverty line (poverty rate grossing 35.8% according to the latest official data).

However, the problem gets more and more complicated with every passing day. World Bank Resident Representative in Armenia Owaise Saadat noted back in 2001during a meeting with donor countries and organizations that the number of the poor in the country amounted to 680 000, the paper says.