Minister Sahil Babayev addressed the Ministerial Forum within the 60th session of the UN Commission on Social Development

The 60th session of the United Nations Commission on Social Development held a Ministerial Forum on "Strengthening Multilateralism in Ensuring Prosperity and Dignity for All through the Promotion of Sustainable Food Systems and the Elimination of Poverty."

Speaking at the forum, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Sahil Babayev stressed that the consistent improvement of the welfare of the population is one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan's socio-economic policy.

The Minister said that 3 social reform packages worth 5 billion manat (about $ 3 billion) have been implemented in the country over the past three years, and the social reform package for 2022 alone covers 2.1 million people. As a result of the reforms, social payments increased by 65 percent, the minimum pension by 2.2 times, the average pension by 60 percent, the minimum wage by 2.3 times, and the annual salary fund more than doubled.

The Minister noted the targeted state social assistance program, which is one of the measures to combat poverty. He noted that 47,000 low-income families with 202,000 family members were provided with targeted assistance last year, the average monthly amount of this assistance increased by 17 percent over the past year, and the targeted assistance program played an important role in the 2020 COVID pandemic. He also noted that last year, about 4.6 percent of the country's population or 466,000 people were provided with monthly and one-time social benefits, and the average monthly pension in the country has increased by 60% over the past three years.

Noting that the Active Aging Index for 2019-2021 has been developed in Azerbaijan within the joint project with the UN Population Fund, the Minister also drew attention to the measures of social protection and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.