Armenia loses population
By Rashid Shirinov
Ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for April 2018, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has begun to make populist speeches to win people’s trust, but Armenians won't get fooled again.
All the previous promises, including developing economy, ensuring economic growth and eliminating corruption, made by Sargsyan had gone in vain.
Most recently Sargsyan revealed a “grandiose” plan to improve the demographic situation and bring the Armenian population to 4 million by 2040. Although nobody in the country believed in this dreamy project, the authorities continue to imitate efforts on implementation of the plan.
The demographic situation in the country has long been demanding decisive intervention of the government, but the authorities missed the opportunity.
The constant outflow of population are caused by many problems, including the chronic recession in the economy, overwhelming corruption, political instability and the constant threat of resumption of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
People in Armenia live in difficult living conditions, and even the official data of the National Statistical Service confirms this. The emigration from the country is growing from year to year, while the birth rate falls and mortality increases.
As many as 9,125 children were born in Armenia in the first quarter of 2016, but the figure fell to only 8,534 this year. The birth rate fell by 16 percent over the past 7 years. Given all these negative indicators, Sargsyan’s prediction for 2040 seems extremely doubtful.
The Armenian government should first fix the vital factors, which include the economic prosperity, security and stability in the country in order to succeed in its demographic policy.
The settlement of the long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can also have a positive impact on the demographic situation in Armenia. The constant threat of resumption of hostilities is another reason for the mass exodus of Armenians from the country.
If the Armenian government eventually agrees to end this conflict and comes to the negotiation table with Azerbaijan, Armenians will not be afraid of staying in their country and be able to gain economic benefits.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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