Most Armenian youth dreaming of life abroad: Survey
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
Armenian migrants in Russia do not plan to return back to their country despite the recent financial hardship in the northern land.
Armenian residents in the Russian Volgograd city have decidedly ruled out any decision to come back to Armenia, saying that even amid the financial trouble, the life in Russia is better than poor social conditions in Armenia.
One of the Armenian residents claimed that notwithstanding the crisis in Russia, he earns four time more and is satisfied with his life there without making any plan to return to Armenia, according to 1in.am, a local online media outlet.
Nearly 92 percent of young Armenians prefer to live and work in Russia, according to a 2013 study by the Center for Realization of Youth Initiatives and Institution for Youth Studies.
Surveying 1577 (59 percent male, 41 percent female) Armenian youngsters, the organizations revealed that there was a great desire among youth to leave Armenia. Russia emerged to be the most common destination for 92 percent of emigrant youth, while 4 percent wished to go to Ukraine and European countries and other 4 percent preferred other lands beyond Armenia's borders.
The survey also showed that 61 percent of male youths prefer to leave their homelands. This figure stood at 39 among female youths.
About 15 percent of the surveyed Armenians were between the ages of 16 and 20, as 46 percent of them were aged between 21 and 25, and 39 percent between 26 and 30.
Another survey, co-conducted wit the UN Development Program in all Armenian provinces revealed that 25 percent of the jobless Armenians did not want to leave the country to find a job abroad, while 50 percent suggested that will ever leave Armenia. The share of the residents, who were determined to leave their land was 15 percent, as 7 percent said they have already taken the necessary measures to leave the post-Soviet country.
The Central Department of the Civil Aviation has earlier issued its official data, revealing the permanent outflow of nearly 40,000 Armenians in the first ten months of 2014.
Haykanak Zhamanak, a local newspaper in Yerevan, claimed that the number of the Armenians, who left Armenia, surpassed the number of Armenians returning to the country from abroad by 22,000.
According to National Statistics Service's regular reports, the common emigration trend in Armenia has been a real catastrophe over the recent years as about 30,000-40,000 people leave the country permanently each year.