The high rate of emigration from Armenia, caused by the socio-economic crisis and widespread unemployment, remains one of the main problems of the country. According to a UN special report, a million people have emigrated from Armenia over the past 20 years – that is, one third of the current country’s population.
The first major wave of emigration was caused by the industrial collapse and war-triggered social crisis after the disintegration of the USSR. Despite the restoration of some macroeconomic stability, the emigration continued, due to severe underpayment and unemployment problems.
During Robert Kocharyan’s presidency the authorities claimed a major economic breakthrough, however all the apparent growth was only fueled by the construction sector, particularly by so-called ‘elite construction’ in Yerevan. Another fragile foundation of this ‘economic miracle’ was bank transfers. In 2008 alone, private transfers reached 1.6 billion dollars, while the whole state budget had only 3 billon dollars – a vivid demonstration of the insolvency of Armenia’s economy. Official data indicates that 85% of these transfers came from Russia.
Over all these years, no solid government program for boosting home enterprise development or increasing the number of jobs has been proposed.
The Armenian National Congress opposition poses the issue of emigration as one of the main faults of the government. Armenian intellectuals, who were previously indifferent to the problem, also turned their attention towards this question. “Of course, there have always been some people who wanted to leave their country in search of a better life. But now the migrants don’t even care where they're going or what kind of life awaits them, as they have nothing to eat here. There are no permanent settlements on our borders anymore…”, says Levon Ananyan, the Head of Armenian Writers Union.
During a government meeting dedicated to the emigration problem, President Sarksyan had to admit that the rate of emigration is alarming. He said that the only way to solve the problem is to improve living standards in Armenia and make the country hospitable for business and life.
According to UN statistics, some 7.500 people leave Armenia each year. Most of them are labor migrants. 65% of permanent emigrants chose Russia as their new home. In 2009 akone, 54,800 Armenians assumed Russian citizenship, becoming the second-largest nation on the list of those who assume Russian citizenship instead of their own.
Susanna Petrosyan, exclusively to VK
