Negative migration balance of Armenia in last three years context averaged 44 thousand citizens per year

ArmInfo. The negative migration balance of Armenia on the average for the last three years was 44 thousand citizens a year. The demographer Ruben Yeganyan told at a press conference on March 19 referring to the results of the conducted study of the migration trends of Armenia of 2014-2016.

According to him, the growth of the negative balance was fixed in the period from 2007 to 2014 when the indicator reached 35 thousand citizens, with the subsequent increase to 44 thousand for 2014 - 2016. "Roughly 1% of the country's population leaves Armenia in rough counting every year. And at the same time, production, jobs, incomes, etc. are reduced by 1%. All this causes serious fears," he stressed.

As a result of the research, it was possible to come to the conclusion that migration in Armenia is a mass phenomenon, bears both a long-term and a seasonal nature, which, by and large, is due to internal factors. Migration in Armenia, according to Yeganyan, has 3 main streams - labor, family and departure to permanent place of residence. In this vein, he reported that 48-49% of citizens are migrant workers, 46% are citizens who migrate for the purpose of changing their place of residence and 2% are family migrants. It is noteworthy that educational migration accounts for only 1.5% of citizens, the overwhelming majority of whom are women.

Regarding labor migrants, the demographer noted that this is mainly men of reproductive age, the main market for which is the Russian Federation. According to the expert, this is due to the fact that the conditions of work for labor migrants are rather simplified in the Eurasian space. This, according to Yeganyan, can explain the factor of the mass migration. "Today, our citizens through the conclusion of a single employment contract can remain and work in Russia for an uncertain period of time. As a result, migration in some sense influences the inflow of material resources into the country, is a deterrent to poverty, a pledge of socio-economic stability," he said.

According to the expert, according to the survey conducted earlier, the main reason for labor migration was that Armenian citizens called the lack of jobs, followed by the level of wages. "Today, the situation has changed somewhat: citizens called the need for high earnings a primary problem, which indicates the low demand for jobs created in the country," he stressed.

To resolve the current situation, according to the expert, systemic changes are needed that will cover both the economic and social spheres. Answering ArmInfo's question, he noted that he sees no prerequisites for changing the situation: "There are prerequisites for deterioration, there are no prerequisites for improving the situation. I try to be objective, "the demographer stressed.

In particular, R. Yeghanyan said that according to a survey conducted in 2007, at least 35% of Armenian households had at least one migrant in the family. In the context of the last three years, this indicator increased by 2 percentage points. According to the data of 2017, 13% of the citizens surveyed are either migrants or have been such. The overwhelming majority of migrants are in Gegharkunik, Lori and northern Shirak regions.

The survey covered 3,000 households both from Yerevan and the RA regions, up to 12,000 citizens took part in it.