The final presentation on population forecast for Azerbaijan was held by Tomas Kucera, an international expert on population forecasting at Charles University in Czech Republic, in the framework of "Information exchange hour" at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Representatives of relevant government agencies, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, the Ombudsman Office, the UN Population Fund, structural units of the Ministry of Labor, as well as international experts attended the event.

Opening the event the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population Salim Muslumov emphasized the continuation of positive demographic trends as one of the achievements of the policy of the President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev that aimed at socio-economic development of our country. "Since 2003, the population of Azerbaijan increased by 17.5 percent and reached 9 802 thousand people as of December 01, 2016. Since 2003 the birth rate has increased as well, from 14 to 17.4 births per 1,000 population”.

S. Muslumov stated that a decrease in mortality rate is observed, while life expectancy at birth is increasing.

The minister also highlighted that: "The State Program of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the field of population occupancy and demographic development (2017-2030) was prepared on the basis of "Azerbaijan 2020: Outlook for the Future" development concept: "In accordance with the country's long-term development strategy, measures aimed at the creation of comprehensive conditions to increase quantitative and qualitative growth of the population have been covered in the project. After the adoption of the program, evaluation of the current demographic situation and the creation of a substantial forecast system are intended within the framework of its implementation"”.

S. Muslumov stated that the planning of actions to be taken in the future on sustainable socio-economic development of the country, including obtaining information on population forecasts are of special importance: "Taking into account this factor, jointly with the UN Population Fund we have started activities on the preparation of population projections for Azerbaijan, disaggregated by economic regions, in order to assess the situation and establish a system of demographic forecast.

The current demographic situation and main trends in the country were discussed during an event held at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population with the participation of an international expert on population forecasting, Tomas Kucera, who is involved with the preparation of the draft of the “State Program on Population Occupancy and Demographic Development”.

The minister noted that in September of last year different scenarios for demographic projections were reviewed taking into account the future development directions of Azerbaijan.

Chief advisor of the UN Population Fund, Farid Babayev, emphasized that the establishment of a strong forecasting system in the field of demography occupies an indispensible place in socio-economic policy of any country, noting as well the importance of the work carried out in the context of cooperation with the UN Population Fund in this area.