Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.23
By Togrul Veliyev - Trend:
Azerbaijan is developing a program on the country's demography covering the period of up to 2025, said Salim Muslimov, the minister of Labour and Social Protection of Azerbaijan. The minister was slpeaking at the 29th Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the follow-up due to the International Conference on Population and Development, the ministry stated Sept.23.
The statement notes that the head of the department in his speech mentioned the steps taken in terms of macroeconomic development of Azerbaijan in order to achieve population stability.
He said that in the first years of independence, Azerbaijan's major challenges in improving the social conditions of the population were the political and economic crisis, the occupation of 20 percent of the country by Armenia, which led to the emergence of more than 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons.
Muslimov said that the foundation of economic reforms in Azerbaijan was laid in 1995. Azerbaijan held the 76th place among 187 countries on the level of human development in the United Nations' rating as a result of measures and reforms implemented in the country.
The Minister also said that Azerbaijan was the first among the CIS countries in 1999 to adopt the Concept of demographic development. Measures on implementation of the existing demographic potential, improvement of education, migration management, as well as in other areas have been taken within the framework of this document, he said.
Muslimov added that half of the existing health and education infrastructure of Azerbaijan was established over the past 20 years.
During this period the population of Azerbaijan increased by 26 percent and reached 9.5 million people, life expectancy in the country reached 74.2 years, infant mortality decreased by 3.5 times, the head of the department said.
