Armenia starving, statistical data says

/AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Armenian National Statistics Service's report "Armenia's provinces and Yerevan city in numbers" proved the widespread starvation and malnutrition throughout the country in 2013.

Official statistical data revealed that almost the whole Armenia is malnourished and suffers from starvation. Armavir and Gegarkunik regions of the former Soviet state have reportedly topped the list of districts with famishing population.

The internationally recognized minimum daily intake norm based on the minimum consumer basket is 2,232 calories per day. Any indication below that figure is characterized as an obvious hunger, exhaustion of body and other negative consequences of the poverty.

The shortage of the daily nutrition intake in Armenia was 6 percent or 142 calories. It was far more below the amount of calories one should receive everyday. Analysts claim that a group of people in the post-Soviet state consumes well above the average indicator. But daily food intake of the population's vast majority is catastrophically under the average norm.

Lori and Vayots Dzor are the most malnourished regions of Armenia where the normal nutrition is a long-forgotten memory. Social stratification is sharply experienced in the capital city Yerevan. A city of luxurious life hosts a large number of hungry stomachs whose daily intake is calculated a little above 2,000 calories per day.

Economic experts believe the figures in the statistical data could be fake since around 500,000 of the overall population of Armenia live and work abroad now. That's why the calculation per capita is suspected to be deceiving.

Malnutrition and poverty is developing parallel in Armenia. One of the survey conducted by the Sociometer Sociological Center reported that about 42 percent of Armenia's population is malnourished and even unable to meet daily food intake. The study revealed that roughly 10.2 percent of Armenian residents are extremely poor, in the other words, more than 300,000 Armenians live on a dollar a day. About 32 percent of the country's population survive on two-dollar daily "budget" to fill their stomachs.

The government should abandon useless actions and efforts when there is an army of hungry souls in the country. Armenian authorities need a "Cinderella kissing" to open the eyes and take care of its residents. Instead wasting huge amount of money on the passionate efforts to celebrate and achieve recognition of the so-called "genocide" centennial, it would be better to take up social problems. Otherwise, it will deepen the problem and deliver more blows to the country and its people.