Since 1998, according to official statistics, 366 195 people have permanently left Armenia On November 13, during the Facebook conference of Radio Liberty, referring to the observations by one of the user, NA ANC faction leader Levon Zurabyan said that during the tenure of the 1st president, after the end of the war, there was an inflow to Armenia, people have returned and began developing the economy. “Also, in recent years, since 2008 until now, under the tenure of Serzh Sargsyan, 350 thousand people have abandoned everything and gone away, a thing that was suspended, no emigration from Armenia with such a pace has even happened.” To the question of the journalist, “Do you also mean during Robert Kocharyan’s tenure,” Mr. Zurabyan responded as follows, citing literally, “Well, even in the tenure of Robert Kocharyan, it was, … ahem … So many … but there was no such an emigration. I can blame Robert Kocharyan for thousand and one things: for the creation of this clan oligarchic system, for March 1, I do not know, I can blame for thousand and one things and we have blamed. But during his tenure, however, at least in the main years, there was no emigration. While, during the tenure of Serzh Sargsyan, we have an unmotivated migration, for the first time there is a migration from Armenia in the peacetime.”
Based on the publications by Armenia’s National Statistical Service (NSS), Aravot.am presents the indicators of migration during the years of tenure of the 2nd and the 3rd presidents of Armenia. Specifically, in which years Zurabyan’s words have happened by saying, “the basic years of Kocharyan’s tenure,” we cannot say, but there are years when the migration indicator truly compared to other years was relatively small. Let us remind that Mr. Kocharyan was the President of Armenia from March 1998 until April 2008. According to the NSS, the surplus of arrivals and departures to/from Armenia in 1998, in other words, the migration amounted to 24 400 people. In 1999 – 7 200 people, in 2000 – 25 700 people left our country and did not come back, which is 3 times more than the indicator in 1999. In 2001, 25 000 people have emigrated from Armenia, in 2002 – 3000 people. In 2003, 7 900 people emigrated, in 2004 – 8 200 people. In 2005 – 7 700 people and in 2006 – 22 000 left our country. In 2007 – 3 000 people. During the 10 years of Kocharyan’[s tenure, according to the NSS, 134 100 people emigrated from Armenia. Note that the presidential elections in 2008 were in February, Serzh Sargsyan had assumed the office on April 9. In 2008, again by data of Armenia’s National Statistical Service, 23 100 people have left Armenia and have never returned. In the next years, the emigration rates have increased at a high speed. According to the statistic service reports, Armenia’s passenger transportation balance, the difference of arrivals and departures, as of January-December 2009, amounted to 25 thousand. This means that in 2009, 25 thousand people have left Armenia with no return. The emigration number in 2010 was 29 900, in 2011 – 43 800 and in 2012 – 37 960. In 2013, 31 200 people emigrated from Armenia. In 2014, 41 135 people emigrated from our country. Summing up the abovementioned figures, it should be noted that from 2008 to 2014, 232 thousand 95 people migrated from Armenia. As of January-September 2015, as indicated in the NSS website, 91 400 people have left Armenia and have not yet returned. We cannot present this indicator as a final index of as the year is not over yet, and it is assumed that a part of those 91 400 migrants will return to Armenia, considering that the majority of departures, as always mentioned, are seeking work abroad. Therefore, the indicator of emigration, or the departure and not-returned yet for 2015 will be clear only after finalizing the year-end data. Thus, during the 10-year presidency of Robert Kocharyan, according to the official data, 134 100 people emigrated from Armenia, during the 7 years of Serzh Sargsyan tenure, 232 095 people have emigrated. Overall, during 17 years, 366 195 people have left Armenia.
Nelly BABAYAN
