- Children ride toy cars in Freedom Square in Yerevan, November 2021. (AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin)
This material is part of a partnership with OC Media. You can read the original English version here.
Armenia’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has proposed introducing a one-off allowance of 500,000 drams ($1,400) for every child born on or after 1 September 2026. The draft decision was approved by the government in November 2025.
The decision reforms the family support system originally designed to encourage childbirth and address low fertility rates. It replaces the tiered model based on the child’s birth order with a flat-rate payment for each child, while also transitioning benefit distribution entirely online and to cashless payments. Officials state that shifting the process online is partly intended to halt child benefit payouts to citizens who no longer reside in Armenia.
The Armenian government previously offered payments based on the child’s birth order in the family, allocating larger sums for the second and subsequent children.
Until the end of August, families will continue to receive payments under the existing law: 300,000 drams ($800) for the first and second child, 1,000,000 drams ($2,700) for the third and fourth, and 1,500,000 drams ($4,100) for the fifth and subsequent children.
Applications for the allowance will be submitted exclusively online, with certain exceptions for Armenian citizens temporarily staying abroad.
This step is part of the government’s broader plan to promote cashless transactions. Childbirth benefits, poverty allowances, emergency assistance, childcare allowances for children under two years old, and pensions are also being shifted to cashless payments.
Back in 2025, the government addressed the issues of citizenship and residency separately from the existing online application rule. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan criticized instances where people who do not reside permanently in Armenia still receive these benefits, calling it “illogical.”
“This cannot continue. If a person has no connection to Armenia and the centre of their life is not here, why should Armenia pay?” he stated.
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Arsen Torosyan reported that in 2024 alone, 1,450 lump-sum birth allowances were paid for children born abroad to Armenian citizens who had not yet been registered with Armenia’s civil registry offices (ZAGS). He noted that these payouts cost the state budget roughly 600 million drams ($1.6 million) annually.
“We are now regulating this matter based on the following logic: if they return within one year of birth, register, and apply for Armenian citizenship, they will receive the money; if not, they will not,” Torosyan explained.
The deadline for submitting an allowance application is set for the last day of the month in which the child turns one year old.