Some people on social media say that immigration took place in Armenia during the first half of this year; the number of people who came to Armenia was higher than the number of people who left. The positive balance between people who left and people who came is an unprecedented case and the people who actively share that news consider it to be an effect of the revolution in Armenia. Those who oppose the revolution state that this positive balance started during the former administration, and it’s unnecessary to tie it to political events. Some say that it’s not true at all and emigration continued during the first half of this year.
So what information do we have in reality?
As great as news is about immigration, official statistics show that there was no immigration during the first half of the year. The number of Armenian citizens who left Armenia from January to June of this year was 50,800 more than the number of people who came to Armenia (arrivals: 788,249, departures: 839,045).
Even if these numbers hadn’t been published, we can assume from other places that there was no immigration. The thing is that we have had a population increase of approximately 3,000 in the first half of the year (the number of people born was higher than the number of people who died), but at the same time a decrease in the number of people who permanently reside in Armenia. That is a result of migration.
Even more, taking the statistics from the first three months of the year and the first half of the year, we estimated movement during the second trimester (April to June). During the second trimester of 2018, 400,772 Armenian citizens came to Armenia, and 448,873 citizens left Armenia. We have a 48.1 negative balance in the second trimester.
Babken Tunyan