Azernews.Az

The total amount of foreign passenger turnover through the border checkpoints of Armenia in January-March 2013 totalled over 826,000, according to data published by the National Statistics Service, 1in.am reported.

Over the three months, the number of people arriving in the country totalled 394,825, including 223,710 citizens of Armenia, whereas the number of departures was 431,923, including 259,210 Armenian nationals.

Thus, the overall balance of arrivals and departures is negative: -37,098, including 35,500 Armenian citizens, compared to -25,394 in January-March 2012.

According to data obtained through a pilot program of an electronic information management system over Armenia's borders, the external passenger traffic carried out through the country's border checkpoints in January-March included 657,045 people, compared to 524,914 in the same period of 2012.

The Armenian immigration body has not yet issued statistics on migration for the first quarter of 2013, though this data is reportedly regularly published in the middle of April.

A few days ago, information was received that the statistics on the number of those who left the country is not available and this picture is embarassing, local media reported.

This statistics provides a miserable scene as to what extent the number of citizens leaving Armenia has increased. By delaying the release of the figures, they are trying to "smoothen" the indicators or drag out time until the elections to Yerevan's Council of Elders, the supreme body of local self-government in Yerevan, which will be held on May 5, the reports say.

Armenia has a tiny population of less than 3.5 million. In the last three years 5 percent or about 160,000 Armenian citizens left the country, according to Armenian Report portal.

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

Given Armenia's small population, if the dangerous demographic situation in the South Caucasus republic persists, it 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.

About 60 percent of the 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 Armenian government appears to lack an intention to change the challenging situation for the sake of its people by leaving the country sidelined from regional projects because of the invasion policy against Azerbaijan, occupying the country's Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other regions, and fueling tension with neighboring countries.