Child Labour in Armenia

According to the UNICEF-supported studies, “Child Labour in Armenia” and “School Wastage Study Focusing on Student Absenteeism in Armenia,”  an average of 6.1 per cent or about 3,500 children aged 7-18 are involved in some kind of work in Armenia and more than 40 per cent of  children interviewed during the study were not attending school at all.

Although the Armenian Labour Code stipulates the minimum age for working to be 14 years, 30 per cent of working children interviewed during the study were below 14.

The studies reveal that between 2002 and 2005 school dropout rates increased at an alarming rate of 250 per cent a year. Therefore, if the 2002-2003 total dropouts were equal to 1,531 students, this number increased to 7,630 in 2004-2005.

 “The prevalence of child labour can be directly correlated to children not attending school at all, or dropping out of school before they complete their basic education,” UNICEF Representative Laylee Moshiri-Gilani stressed.