Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

About 2.234 million people left Armenia, while 2.191 million arrived in 2012, according to the state migration body of the country, which has population of less than 3.5 million.

Thus, the negative migration balance was 42,764 people last year. In 2011, the figure was 43,800.

The Armenian statistics body released data last December citing an increase of the poverty rate in the country, an indicator of economic predicament which is believed to pose the threat of a social explosion.

In the last three years 5 percent or about 160,000 Armenian citizens left the country, according to Armenian Report portal.

The number of people who did not return to their home country increased by 10 percent. With the given dynamic, it can be assumed that the number of the people who stay abroad will be 55,000 per year.

The tendency of an exodus emerged in 2008, and about 200,000 people have left the country since then in search of a new start in their lives.

Given the South Caucasus republic's small population, this is a high percentage -- a dangerous demographic situation for Armenia -- and if this trend continues, the country may soon have almost no labor force left. Around two-thirds of the migrants have reportedly gone to Russia, while the rest have moved to the U.S. or Europe.

The most intensive migration was reported to the central and southern regions of Russia, as well as to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. At least 40,000 people have left for the United States and other industrialized countries.

About 60 percent of the entire total of 8 million Armenians live outside Armenia in 60 countries, with one million in the U.S. and Russia each. There are also large Armenian communities in Georgia, France, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Argentina, and Canada.

The number of officially registered unemployed people in Armenia was 63,300 in October 2012, according to the Armenian National Statistics Service.