Armenia is the leading South Caucasian state in terms of emigrants to
Russia. About 15,000 Armenian citizens left the country for Russia,
Armenia Today reports.
159,000 people received Russian citizenship in the first half of 2011.
Most migrants came to Russia from Uzbekistan (28,600) and Kyrgyzstan
(19,900). About 30,000 came from Trans-Caucasus. 1,600 came from
Baltic areas, 3,000 from China and 1,900 from Germany.
Russia needs 1 million migrants annually due to demographic drop.
Employable population in Russia will drop by 14 million by 2020.
Pensioners and housewives may cover only a third of the demand. The
rest is covered by about 700,000 migrants every year.
Such high migration flow was registered in 1994. 236,000 people
arrived from Kazakhstan, 138,000 from Ukraine. Migration dropped to
119,000 until 2004. Simplification of citizenship in 2007 increased
migration to 286,000.
