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In 2012, in Azerbaijan, 130 thousand families or 585,000 people received addressed public social aid. In a year, the number of people, who according to Ministry of Labor and Social Protection were to get financial assistance, increased by 7.9% (43 million). However, the government of Azerbaijan states that the poverty rate has reduced by 1.1%, the Azerbaijani news agency Turan reports.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, in 2012 the 6.2% of citizens in the country received the addressed public social aid. At the same time, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, in January 2013, said that the poverty rate in the country has decreased from 7.1 to 6%.

According to the agency, in 2012 in Azerbaijan poverty criterion for the addressed public social aid to be provided to the citizens per month has been increased from 75 to 84 euros per family member. In addition, the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, while determining the poverty rate, takes as its basis 120 euros per month per capita income.

It is necessary to mention that not all citizens of Azerbaijan, whose incomes are below the subsistence minimum apply for the abovementioned aid. Thus, even from this official statistics it becomes clear that the poor in the country are more than the government of Azerbaijan recognizes, the article says.

NGOs note that the rate of subsistence minimum in Azerbaijan, the amount of which in 2012 was 108 euros, and on the basis of which the criterion of poverty is determined in order to provide social assistance to citizens of Azerbaijan, is being deliberately underestimated by the government for political purposes, to show as if there is very few poor living in Azerbaijan, Turan notes.