Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.18 /Trend I.Isabalayeva/
The poverty level in Azerbaijan decreased by 1.5 percent and amounted to 7.6 percent in 2011.
The poverty rate in 2003 was 44.7 percent, 40.2 percent in 2004, 29.3 percent in 2005, 20.8 percent in 2006, 15.8 percent in 2007, 13.2 percent in 2008, 10.9 percent in 2009, 9.1 percent in 2010. Thus, the poverty rate decreased by 5.2 times over the last eight years, the State Statistics Committee told Trend today.
Nearly 94,000 new jobs were created, 72,700 of which are permanent. This and other factors contributed to the reduction of unemployment, which fell by 0.5 percent, up to 5.4 percent.
According to the preliminary data, the number of pensioners was 1.278 million people as of late 2011. The average monthly pension amounted to 145.2 manat.
Some 306,800 people have social benefits, 34,300 people have a scholarship for special services to Azerbaijan, 122,000 families, or 547,800 people receive targeted social assistance as of 2011.