Gayane Sargsyan

Vanadzor’s Maternity Ward registered 616 births during the first six months of this year – 337 boys and 278 girls.

In fact, boys have outstripped girls for the past few years: 2012 – 905 boys, 739 girls; 2013 – 829 boys, 718 girls; 2014 – 810 boys, 788 girls.

The number of total births compares unfavorably to 2014, when the hospital registered 762 births in the first six months. 693 births were registered in the first half of 2013 and 766 in the first half of 2012.

Aram Avalyan, who heads the Pediatric Division at the Vanadzor Medical Center, says that these figures aren’t sufficient to draw a conclusion that births are going down, and that one needs to at least compare figures for the past five years.

Data supplied by the Lori Provincial Government (in which Vanadzor is located) does show a gradual downward trend in births over the past five years:  2010 – 3,483 births; 2100 – 3123; 2012 – 3049; 2013 – 2,919; 2014 – 3,211.