WAITING FOR EMPTY ARMENIA

[Yervant1]

If the leadership do not wake up to this reality, we might as well kiss it goodbye to our homeland!

 

 

 

WAITING FOR EMPTY ARMENIA

Naira Hayrumyan

 

Story from Lragir.am News:

http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/politics27672.html

Published: 13:32:46 - 10/10/2012

 

"Our economy is growing, while theirs is actually paralyzed. Our

population is increasing, while they are facing a demographic

catastrophe, there is zero natural growth and mass emigration.

 

According to their official statistics only, in the first half of the

year about 70-80 thousand people left the country," said Ilham Aliyev

comparing Azerbaijan with Armenia. He also added that Azerbaijan

will certainly get Karabakh back but refrained from militaristic

statements. He called on his people to wait until Armenia is totally

empty and Azerbaijan will take not only Karabakh but entire Armenia.

 

Demography is an important geopolitical factor. Western progressive

technologies, industrial, military, as well as social and political,

cannot win where their rival is the demography. Despite the fact that

it is common to speak more about the clash of the Western progress and

the eastern traditionalism, in reality the barrier is the demography.

 

Demography will increasinly lead the Armenian people to complete loss

of not only sovereignty but also the nation state. Russia's ambassador

Vyacheslav Kovalenko does not hide that his country takes away from

Armenia over 5 thousand people annually, plus those of approximately

the same number who win the Green Card and leave for the United

States. He says that Armenians are not forced to leave for Russia,

which is true, but it is also true that Russia and the U.S., as well

as Turkey and Azerbaijan, do everything to reduce Armenian population.

 

Serzh Sargsyan calls on the world to undertake steps against

Azerbaijan, which, as he says, is preparing for a war. In reality,

Azerbaijan is getting ready to absorb the Armenian territories after

the demographic situation in Armenia will have reached its pick.

 

The government which not only does not try to stop emigration but

also stimulates it should be accused of high treason. It deprives us

of the key weapon in the world - the demographic weapon. Even if we,

by some miracle, acquire progressive technological weapons, we will be

unable to survive without demography because we need to cope with the

financial and technological expansion of the West, the weakening of

our sovereignty by the North and the threat of demographic expansion

of the South and the East.

 

The parliament and the government of Armenia should call an

extraordinary session on the demographic issue. In addition, they

should view in the same context the natural and mechanical reduction.

 

It is necessary to adopt complex measures to stop emigration and

boost birth rate.

 

This thesis should be the basis of the programs of presidential

nominees because the demographic issue can't be ignored any more.

 

Armenia with a population of one million will have to forget about

the nation state. Little time is left for this scenario to come true.

 

[Yervant1]

EXODUS REALITIES: RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR ASKS "WHY ARE PEOPLE LEAVING ARMENIA?"

Armen Arakelyan

 

hetq

19:16, October 9, 2012

 

In June of last year, Armenian President Sargsyan instructed his

government agencies dealing with migration issues to manufacture

data that would show that more people were entering the country

than leaving.

 

This manipulation of the numbers was doomed from the start. Average

citizens of Armenia daily see long lines of people waiting outside

foreign embassies in Yerevan to file their papers to leave.

 

President Sargsyan wanted to create the impression that the "rumours"

of thousands leaving Armenia were just a figment of popular myth and

a collective nightmarish dream.

 

At a press conference yesterday in Yerevan, Vaycheslav Kovalenko,

Russia's Ambassador to Armenia, presented irrefutable evidence that

the migration issue in Armenia is indeed a real nightmare.

 

Kovalenko stated that from 2007 till the present, 5,000 Armenian

citizens and their families have relocated to Russia via the

"Compatriots" program launched by Russia's Federal Migration Service.

 

Ambassador Kovalenko added that almost a similar number had left

Armenia during the same period under the U.S. Green Card lottery

system. He wanted to show that the Russian program was not worse than

what the Americans were doing.

 

Now let's extrapolate the numbers. If we accept that an average

Armenian family consists of three people, it then turns out that in the

past five years 10,000 families have left Armenia under the auspices

of these two programs alone - some 30,000 individuals in total.

 

Programs designed to maintain the demographic balance of those

countries aren't only conducted in Armenia. But their consequences for

Armenia specifically are tragic and painful. The problem isn't merely

the 10,000 families that have left, but those 20,000 citizens who

wrote petitions to avail themselves of that Russian program. That is

to say, the thousands of individuals who want to take their families

and leave Armenia for good and the countless numbers who annually

apply to the Green Card lottery in the hope of moving to America.

 

Last week RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan declared in parliament

that the government was concerned with the actions of the Compatriots

program and that consultations had taken place with various Russian

officials.

 

"Our position is clear to the Russian government. The "Compatriots"

program will cease to operate in Armenia. The operation of such

programs in Armenia is impermissible. Our Russian partners accept

our arguments. We will reach a general conclusion regarding the

operation of regular migration activities, but we regard the organizing

emigration from Armenia as unacceptable," PM Sargsyan stated.

 

This signifies that the Armenian government regards the best, or at

least one way, to resolve the emigration problem as the application

of administrative levers, which in our case is nothing more waging

a ferocious war against windmills.

 

First, if the best way to halt the contagion of whole families

leaving the country, for example, is to force Russia to close the

"Compatriots" program in Armenia, then why did the Prime Minister

only target that program?

 

Following the same logic, he should have gone after the Green Card

lottery and demanded that the U.S. halt it as well. In general, Armenia

should be targeting the all the foreign embassies and consulates in

the country and demanding that they no longer issues visas to those

who apply.

 

The Armenian government would also have to be close all its borders

since people wishing to leave employing every legal and illegal means

to do so.

 

But just like the Prime Minister once jokingly confessed, the

government can't afford to do so because what it fears even more is

growing numbers of discontented and alienated people remaining in

the country.

 

It would be like a pressure cooker waiting to explode. Thus, the

Armenian authorities regard emigration as a convenient release valve.

 

The government prefers to resolve the socio-economic mess it has

created by sending people abroad for seasonal work and to keep the

country afloat by the money remittances these people send back.

 

Second, it's not clear how the government would be able to ban such

programs in Armenia. The Russian ambassador in his last interview,

for example, where he touched on the "Compatriots" program, gave no

hint that an agreement had been reached on closing it or that Russia

was even aware of Armenian concerns.

 

This appears quite typical. If the Armenian government found it

necessary to raise the issue in all sessions of an intergovernmental

committee and if the program's office at the Russian Embassy hadn't

closed, it would mean that either PM Sargsyan wanted to confuse us

all or that the Russians don't give a damn about Armenia's concerns

and arguments.

 

It means that Armenia is still regarded by nations like Russia and

the U.S, as in the past, as a cheap supplier of bodies to resolve

their own demographic problems. This is all the more the case since

the authorities of Armenia themselves have turned the nation into an

object, a commodity.

 

Thus, it is not at all surprising that the Russian ambassador could

not only skirt the concerns voiced by PM Sargsyan, but that he could

clearly show, in an indirect manner, that Sargsyan doesn't speak the

truth and make it understood that the program will not be shut.

 

Essentially, PM Sargsyan wants to transfer the burden of responsibility

for the existing deplorable migration situation off the shoulders

of his government to that of a foreign country. This is quite

understandable. It's much easier to argue that you can't resolve the

problem due to conspiracies being directed against you rather than

confessing your own shortcomings. In this case, the government is

following the easier way out of assuming its share of responsibility.

 

But it seems that the Armenian government has forgotten the flowing

words uttered by the president himself back in 2011.

 

"The only factor that can utterly rule out the negative balance

between those entering and leaving Armenia would be to create such

conditions in the country to compensate for those conditions that

make them leave."

 

So far during his tenure, President Sargsyan has only convened one

advisory council or debate on migration and emigration issues. And

even that was to essentially promote a juggling of the figures to

soften the psychological impact of the exodus.

 

And what has been done in the past year? No one really knows. The

authorities have been engaged in the more serious issue of ensuring

their "re-election". And this, as we all know, means it is vital

to have as large a list of citizens living outside the country as

possible.

 

"Is anyone forcing Armenians to move to Russia? Do you really believe

that if we close our agency people will stop going? Is the agency

the real problem?" Russian Ambassador Kovalenko asked the other day.

 

"Why are people leaving Armenia? They leave because they have objective

reasons that have nothing to do with the Russian Migration Service. If

we close the mission the emigration will not stop."

 

Despite the level of cynicism in Ambassador Kovalenko's statement,

it contains the simple truth.

 

The real question is whether the Armenian government is at all

interested in hearing it.

[Arpa]

We are so hard pressed to fault the citizens of Armenia for wanting to breathe some “free” ? air. **

It has been said that the drowning will cling to any floating object be it a blade of straw or even a snake (furkey).

Having lived in a landlocked and blockaded tiny country for so long…. The BLOCKADE is not a new phenomenon. It goes back a long time. Armenians have been afflicted with the disease of claustrophobia for hundreds , if not thousands of years. Why were the natives of kharberd, Sebastia, Moush and Sassoun migrating to stanbol and beyond, as far as Paris and Pasadena?

Armenia was “blockaded” even during those so called “freedom” times during the Soviet era.

**I know the feeling. When I lived in that stamp sized so called country Lebanon where the farthest point is less than 20 miles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claustrophobia

]Claustrophobia[/b] (from Latin claustrum "a shut in place" and Greek φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms (opposite: claustrophilia). It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack, and can be the result of many situations or stimuli, including elevators crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and even tight-necked clothing.

http://news.am/eng/news/124217.html

http://img.newsam.com/news/124217.jpg

 

More citizens of Armenia visit Turkey

October 10, 2012 | 00:18

The number of citizens of Armenia who headed to Turkey has grown by 0.40 percent and comprised 46,598 people, in January-August 2012.

A total of 11,734 citizens of Armenia went to Turkey in August 2012, and this is 4 percent more as compared with the same time period last year, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Separately, the greatest drop in January-August 2012 was recorded among the citizens of Syria. A total of 392,823 Syrians citizens visited Turkey over that period, and this is a 38.4 percent reduction as compared with past year’s same time period. The citizens of Iran are second, with a 33 percent drop.

To note, 72,393 citizens of Armenia headed to Turkey in 2011, and this number was 4.5 percent more than in 2010.

[Yervant1]

RUSSIA CONTINUES TO IMPORT ARMENIANS

 

23:28 17/01/2013

Story from Lragir.am News:

http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/country/view/28658

 

Russia has resumed the Compatriots program in Armenia. Last November

the program was said to be suspended till January 10.

 

Lragir.am has learned from the Yerevan office of the Russian migration

service that the program continues. It is not stated why the program

had been suspended but it continues despite the statement of the

Armenian government for stopping the program.

 

Russia offers Armenians employment and citizenship. Last September

the project was enlarged, and the citizens of Armenia were allowed to

leave with families, after which Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated

that the program is unacceptable. Later the question was discussed

during the meeting of the intergovernmental commission and the deputy

foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said Russia cannot implement a

program against the will of Armenia.

 

Nevertheless, the program was successfully resumed. A lot of people

are willing to leave. They stand in line in front of the Migration

Service. Meanwhile, the authorities are silent.

 

The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan

refused to comment on this issue.

[Yervant1]

THE CLOCK IS TICKING



http://asbarez.com/112408/the-clock-is-ticking/
Monday, August 5th, 2013

[mariatitizian-300x284.jpg]

BY MARIA TITIZIAN

If the current trend continues, it is estimated that by the end of
2013 almost 100,000 Armenians will have left the country. In a few
short months we will learn the final figure of this new wave of
mass departure.

If this trend holds steady, it means about 265 people will have exited
the borders of our homeland on a daily basis, the overriding majority
never to return.

This figure might not seem high at first glance, but it translates to
about 66 families a day. Think about this number, 66 families. Now
think about the street you live on or the apartment building where
you reside. This figure means that most likely every single home on
your street or every apartment in your building will be left vacant.

The paint will chip, the grass will be covered in weeds, the shrubs
will overgrow, the asphalt on driveways will crack, the pipes will
rust, and the windows will be covered in a thick film of dust and soot.

The rooms of these now-empty homes will be hollow shells of what
was once a life - life with all of its messy, complicated, painful,
passionate, joyful moments. There will be no more babies born, or
love made, or arguments or the passing of a beloved grandparent.

There will be no more weddings or baptisms. There will be no more
studying for exams or writing of essays. Words and conversations will
no longer drift through the rooms, which would have written a story
of a life lived and loved. There will be no more stories. No more
dreams and hopes.

Just empty houses and apartments.

Sixty-six families a day means that every single day the lights in
two entire apartment buildings in Yerevan will be forever turned off.

Sixty-six families mean that half the population of a small
village will leave behind homes, memories, graves of parents and
grandparents...

I know what it feels like to pack up a home, a life, a family and
move across oceans to another country.

I know how it feels to try and decide what to keep and what to throw
or give away for every fragment represents a memory, a touch, a feel,
a sensation.

I know what it feels like to walk through empty rooms, closing the
blinds and turning off the lights one by one; rooms where my children
had slept and played games and dreamed of fairies and monsters.

I know what it feels like to leave behind a thriving garden full
of tomatoes and cucumbers, parsley and mint, mulberries and fruit
trees that my husband had tended to so passionately, a garden that
had blossomed with our children.

I know what it feels like to shut the front door, lock it and then
hand the key over to a stranger and ask them to tend to the house
with care because it held so many precious memories and where we had
become a family.

I know what it feels like to stand at a gate in a sterile airport
and say goodbye to parents and sisters and brothers, friends and
community. I remember the tears falling down my face as the plane
ascended, whisking us away from everything that was safe and familiar,
while my husband held my hand and tried to shield our children from
that pain.

I feel for every one of those 66 families that leave Armenia on a daily
basis. I know what they went through to arrive at that decision, I know
and understand the pain but while we were running toward something,
they are running away from something and I don't blame anyone yet I
blame everyone.

If that figure remains steady, it will be the equivalent of the total
and absolute depopulation of the Marz of Syunik or Vayots Dzor or Lori.

Think about it.

Imagine that an entire state in America, a province in Canada, an
arrondisement in Paris completely emptied out. No children in school,
no patients in hospitals, no priests or congregations in churches,
no bakers, doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers.

No one.

It means that the villages of Akhtala, Ayrum, Dastakert, Dzynashogh,
Toumanyan and countless others will turn into ghost towns. Not a
single human soul left to tend to the fields and pastures, no one to
remember the dead and buried, no one to write their stories.

Who to blame?

The regime for its utter failure to provide security and prosperity?

Civil society for its impotence? Those who make a good living in
Armenia, yet are so ready to give up on her potential? The oligarchs
for sucking the blood of the people? The political parties who are
more concerned with maintaining their positions of perceived "power"
rather than making a serious attempt at regime change? The Diaspora for
its indifference or those who offer advice from afar while never having
even stepped foot on this blessed land? I blame every last one of us.

Ten years from now, we will not have the ability, capacity or human
resources to protect our borders, we don't even need to bother with
industry or production because there won't be anyone left to buy or
consume it.

If this trend continues, in a decade there will be barely 1.5 million
Armenians left in the homeland. It's an interesting number, no?

Think about it.

[MosJan]

irents nor spyurq e petq.. hin spyurq@ arden hognatsa.. arden $$$$$$$ chuni or ugharki.. HAmalrum en Spyurki Sharqer@... shat shutov iys nuyn spyurqn el ksksi a$hxatel...

[Yervant1]

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: STATISTICS REVEALS INCREASING NUMBER OF ONE-WAY FLIGHTS FROM ARMENIA

09:07 * 10.12.14

The number of Armenians who left the country by air in the past 11
months of 2014 tops last year's records by 22,000.

Comparing the figure with the 2013 statistics, the paper says that the
negative balance has increased by over 27 times. Citing the General
Department of Civil Aviation past years' statistics, it notes that
around 30,000-40,000 Armenian citizens annually fly from the country
without return.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/12/10/hzh/1531272

[Yervant1]

TO LAMENT OR TO ACT?

Mirror Spectator
Editorial 6-13 June 2015

By Edmond Y. Azadian

During a recent visit to Armenia, I took a side trip to Nagorno
Karabagh. Love for our historic homeland certainly contributes to
endearing that piece of land to all Armenians. But that love and
admiration still will be there if you evaluate Karabagh in absolute
terms, looking at it from an artistic perspective.

The capital, Stepanakert, has become a modern city, a pride of the
Karabagh people.

The natural lush and Alpine beauty, combined with a sense of history,
led me to ponder about this paradise on earth: Who is contributing
to its development? Who is guarding its borders? Who is investing in
its economy?

There is virtually no air traffic between Yerevan and Stepanakert,
since the Azeris have been threatening to shoot down civilian
aircraft. Every time Armenia attempts to begin air transport, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other
"impartial" parties warn that country not to resort to provocations.

Thus, the Azeri diktat of an internationally-supported policy to
isolate Karabagh and down the road, to force its depopulation,
is enforced.

Therefore, the only way to communicate with the enclave or to visit
there remains overland transport, which under ideal conditions,
takes a minimum of six hours from Yerevan through Goris. The road
does not meet international standards, but in local standards, it is
considered comfortable.

Returning from Stepanakert to Yerevan, we took the Mardakert-Vardenis
road, which is in a lamentable condition. In any country, a
116-kilometer journey could be covered in almost one hour, but our trip
lasted eight long hours, inflicting innumerable shocks on our bones.

This is one of the major arteries that contributes to trade and
business between Armenia and Karabagh. One begins to think in whose
interests it is to keep a main artery in such prehistoric conditions.

Repaving the road has been in the plans of Armenia Fund for the
last two years. Those two years have made the road deteriorate even
further. But who, one might ask, is responsible for this disaster? The
finger-pointing begins. No one thinks it is his or her responsibility.

It is not important which organizations or parties or agencies are
tasked with overseeing the situation. Instead, Armenians all around
the world are collectively responsible; their ineptness has resulted
in leaving Karabagh to its own devices, after the locals shed so much
blood for its liberation.

Armenia Fund organizes an annual fund drive broadcast on Thanksgiving
Day and the world Armenian community participates. Officially reported
results for the year 2014 are $12,399,550, a dramatic drop from the
previous year. But no one has yet questioned the cause of that drop,
nor has anyone offered a plausible explanation. By the way, one single
Armenian benefactor could have written that check.

Armenia Fund is organized on the healthy principle of being all
inclusive. It is a forum where Armenia meets the Diaspora. But there
are deadweights among the constituent organizations, which have not
contributed a single penny nor will they in the foreseeable future.

The irony is that they have been invited not for their power to
contribute, but for their power to disrupt, should they be left out.

They may exercise their negative power to take their revenge, since
it is always easier to convince the public not to contribute rather
than to contribute.

Hagop Avedikian, editor of Azg newspaper in Yerevan, has taken to
task the responsible parties who organize the fundraising, in two
consecutive articles.

The first question he asks is why the telethon is organized in the
same city, with the participation of the same people and almost with
the same slogans?

Then, he offers three recommendations:

1. To reduce the number of employees in fundraising drives. People are
less impressed by the word of paid employees rather than volunteers.

2. To empower the local committees and trust them with additional
responsibilities.

3. To supply honest, direct and unbiased accounting, because in this
case, the moral capital is worth more than financial capital.

The third issue brings up a host of other problems, which is related
to trust and accountability. Authority has been fragmented in the
diaspora. There is no authority that can rise above partisan or
intercommunal divide and command national trust.

Here, Avedikian contrasts the situation to General Antranik's drive
in 1919 in the US, when Armenians in the homeland and Cilicia were
devastated after the Genocide. Antranik's fundraising appeal to
the people sounds like a military order (no anonymous donations,
no pledges, all cash, etc.), regional fundraising committees to be
formed by certain organizations, no extravagant expenses and so on.

How could Antranik command that kind of respect? First because he
was a national hero and second, his authority was backed by Boghos
Nubar *****, president of the Armenian National Delegation, with the
blessing of Avetis Aharonian, president of the Republic of Armenia.

The impeccable credibility of these names was awe inspiring at that
time. That respect has been replaced today by pervasive cynicism,
to degrade and disgrace any authority.

This self-destructive impulse is a sign of a tired nation, who no
longer holds anything as sacred.

More than 7,000 donors contributed to General Antranik's fund drive,
raising $532,036.40, which in today's dollars, is equivalent to $6.5
million. It has to be noted that contributors were all immigrants, most
of them factory workers, grocers, cobblers and artisans. The results
have been published in a book with all the names of donors, and the
amount of their donations, but most significantly, with the inclusion
of the names or cities they were born in. The funds were distributed
as follows: 30 percent allocated to the Armenian Patriarchate in
Istanbul, which was a functioning body under Allied occupation;
20 percent to Cilicia, where home rule was promised by the French;
10 percent to the AGBU, which was operating orphanages, schools and
health clinics in Armenia, Cilicia, Greece and the Middle East and
the remaining 40 percent sent to the government of independent Armenia.

People were eager to contribute because they had faith that their
shattered collective existence would be restored, Cilicia would
survive and independent Armenia offered a bright future.

These facts bring us to the conclusion that powerful authorities can
galvanize the masses and inspire faith and hope for the future.

What the Avedikian has not mentioned is the negative campaign rampant
online not to contribute to Armenia nor to Armenia Fund.

Those campaigners accuse, rightfully, the government officials of
corruption. The collapse of the Soviet Union created an ocean of
corruption. It is not possible to isolate one area in that ocean and
purify its water. Only by considering the government as a necessary
evil can we continue contributing, even if one fraction of that
contribution is applied toward the intended goal. Three presidents
succeeded each other but not one of them was able to curb corruption.

The former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili tried to eradicate
corruption and today he is a wanted felon in his own country.

There are entities in Armenia that live up to the norm and they are
in private hands, such as Tumo, the Cafesjian Museum, the American
University of Armenia, Zvartnots Airport and the Dilijan International
School.

The point is not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Donations
help, but one has to be willing to lose some of it along the way and
also choose wisely.

It is disturbing to face general apathy when Armenia is depopulated,
when support to the homeland and Karabagh dwindles, maybe even leading
us to the loss of the homeland.

Maybe we are better used to lamenting the loss of our homeland rather
than working to maintain it.

[Yervant1]

Keep on dreaming, 50 thousand returning home every year! Fix corruption first and after that improve business environment with less government bureaucracy tape then maybe!!!!!!!!!

ARKA, Armenia

May 24 2017

Armenia’s population will increase to 4 million by 2040 only if 50,000 ethnic Armenians immigrate back to their homeland annually

http://arka.am/upload/resize_cache/iblock/a62/344_258_2/a62a26216c87e4157ff82652a40949b3.jpg

YEREVAN, May 24. /ARKA/. Armenia’s population will increase to 4 million by 2040 only if 50,000 ethnic Armenians immigrate back to their homeland annually, a former chairman of the Central Bank Bagrat Asatryan, told journalists on Wednesday, in comments on an earlier statement by president Serzh Sargsyan.

Addressing the first session of the new Armenian parliament on May 18 president Sargsyan stated that the population of Armenia should grow 4 million by 2040 due to a sharp improvement in the demographic situation.

According to Asatryan, the out-emigration indicators for the first quarter of 2017 remain unchanged compared to the same indicator in 2016. At the same time, he stressed that in 2016 about 55,000 Armenian citizens left the country.

He said also that in 1990, the natural increase in the population was 80,000 and the death rate was 22,000 thousand, while the lowest birth rate was recorded in 2001 (30,000), the death rate in the same year amounted to more than 25 thousand.

"In the first quarter of 2017, the levels of these indicators have almost equaled: in 2018-2019, Armenia will face a serious and profound problem of population decline, which can not be resolved in a couple of years," Asatryan said.

According to official statistics, the permanent population of the country as of April 1, 2017 stood at 2,981,500. -0-

http://arka.am/en/news/society/armenia_s_population_will_increase_to_4_million_by_2040_only_if_50_000_ethnic_armenians_immigrate_ba/

 

 

[Yervant1]

Asbarez

May 25 2017

Expert Calls Sarkisian’s Population Growth Task Challenging

• http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SarkisianAddressingParliament.jpg

http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SarkisianAddressingParliament.jpg

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian addresses parliament on May 18, 2017 in Yerevan (Photo: National Assembly of Armenia)

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Raising Armenia’s population to 4 million by 2040 is a formidable challenge, an expert of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Armenia said concerning President Serzh Sarkisian’s recent speech in which he formulated the task.

In his address to the newly elected National Assembly on May 18, the Armenian leader among the priorities also pointed out the need for a considerable improvement of Armenia’s demographic situation in the coming decades.

UNFPA Assistant Representative Garik Hayrapetian said that Armenia, whose current population is estimated at about 3 million, will do a great job even if it can raise its population number by 500,000 during the next 20 years.

http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GarikHayrapetianUNFPA.jpg

Garik Hayrapetian, UNFPA representative in Armenia (Photo: RFE/RL)

“Theoretically, everything is possible. But if we try to really estimate our abilities, then, I think, it will be rather difficult to achieve the announced figures. But even if we can achieve half of that, I think this will be a very big step forward for us in terms of improving and stabilizing the country’s demographic situation,” the expert said.

Hayrapetian identified two main directions for achieving this goal. “What may bring results much faster in the first place is the organization of immigration. But for this it is necessary that the country become very attractive so that people who once left wanted to return. The second direction is, of course, an increase in the birth rate, which is not a simple task either,” the UNFPA representative said, adding that another challenge for Armenia is its aging society.

Two years ago the UNFPA conducted a large study, concluding that in the best-case scenario, if steps are taken in this direction, the population of Armenia by 2050 will be 3.2 million, while in the worst-case scenario, if nothing is done to reduce the scale of outmigration and stimulate the growth of the birth rate, the population of Armenia will drop below 2 million.

In his previous speeches President Sarkisian never addressed specific figures connected with the demographic situation. Specific numbers are even difficult to find in the government’s program. Only the program for 2012-2017 indicates that the government intends to bring the birth rate coefficient to 1.8. However, in 2016, as it was in 2012, this coefficient remained at the same level – 1.6.

Meanwhile, according to official statistics, since 2008 Armenia’s permanent population has dropped by more than 100,000 – from 3.1 million to 2 million, 990 thousand. According to the Migration Service, about 346,000 citizens have left Armenia for good since 2008. The birth rate slightly increased after 2008, but then it declined again. Since 2014 it has tended to consistently decline, while the mortality rate, on the contrary, is rising.

 

http://asbarez.com/163759/expert-calls-sarkisians-population-growth-task-challenging/

[Yervant1]

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
May 24, 2017 Wednesday


Expert: Armenian migration issue reached the limit

Yerevan May 24

Alina Hovhannisyan. Armenian migration issue reached the limit, this
was stated during the press conference on May 24 by Bagrat Asatryan,
economist, ACB ex head.

According to him, in 2016 55 thousand people migrated from Armenia,
which is equal to almost 2% of total population. "To lead the people
to the situation when 50 thousand people leave the country annually
and not to react. Tell me, has any of the high-ranking officials once
expressed concern about this? We have reached the limit when it is no
longer possible to lie, but our officials continue to do this, "the
economist said. According to Asatryan, in view of the current trend,
in 2018-2019 Armenia will face serious demographic problems.

The cause for concern is the situation with fertility and mortality,
he added. So, in his words, in 1990 about 80 thousand children were
born in Armenia, and 20 thousand people died, in 2001 the lowest birth
rate was registered - 30 thousand, with a death rate of 25 thousand
people, and already in I Quarter of 2017, the number of births was
equal to the number of deaths.

"At the same time, the head of state speaks about the prospect of
Armenian population increase by 2040 to 4 million. This means that
starting from today, 50,000 people should come back to Armenia. How
can you come out with such statements? Today, from a demographic point
of view, Armenia has real problems that cannot be solved in 2-3 years.
This problem is in fact quite serious and profound, " Asatryan said,
adding that according to preliminary estimates, the current population
of Armenia is 2.5 million citizens.

According to National Statistics Service data, the most densely
populated areas are two capital near areas-Armavir (265.3thousand
people) and Ararat(258.2 thousand people). Then comes
Kotayq(252.4thousand), Shirak (238.6thousand), Gegharkuniq (230.4
thousand) and Lori(220.3 thousand). In Syuniq, Aragatsotn and Tavush
for the reported period live 138.78 thousand, 128.2 thousand and 124.1
thousand people, and the most under populated area of the country is
Vayots Dzor, where only live 50.1 thousand people.

[Yervant1]

It's not getting any better!

News.am, Armenia

Dec 29 2017

Demographer: More than 35% of Armenia households involved in migration

13:07, 29.12.2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

YEREVAN. – As of mid-2017, there are about 200,000 Armenians—from Armenia—abroad, and they have left there either to establish permanent residence or to work, demographer Ruben Yeganyan said at a press conference on Friday.

“According to our research data, in the past three to four years, more than 35 percent of households [in Armenia] participated in migration processes,” said Yeganyan. “In the past three to four years, 12 percent of the population [in the country] participated in migration processes.

“In the case when 37,500 people had left Armenia in 2016, according to this year’s data, more than 40,000 people have left [the country].”

https://news.am/eng/news/429123.html

 

 

[MosJan]

[onjig]

What can be done```

[MosJan]

don't know

[MosJan]

all i know is sending money isn't working / hasn't worked for 20+ years.

[Yervant1]

Armenia needs honest politicians, who work for the good of the country and not their pockets. Honest politicians are not enough to do the job, they need public support with the same mindset and not to sell their votes for few dollars. Curb the oligarchs hands and save the country from the monopolies which kills free enterprise and gives rise to inflation for the average person. In one word it's the corruption which is a human disease that is keeping Armenia back.

[Yervant1]

While this is an ongoing problem for tiny Armenia, people at the helm are doing nothing!!!!!!!!!! Wake up leadership! if there are any?

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia

January 17, 2018 Wednesday


More than a third of Armenians surveyed wish to leave the country forever

Yerevan January 17

Emmanuil Mkrtchyan. 33% of the respondents - Armenian residents want
to move abroad for permanent residence, the sociological survey of the
Caucasus Resource Research Center (CRRC), presented today in the World
Bank Yerevan Office, reads.

According to the poll, only 65% want to live in Armenia, and 2% are
undecided. It is worth noting that the number of people who wish to
leave their homeland is growing every year. Previous studies showed
that in 2008 there were only 18%, in 2011 - 23%, in 2015 - 31%. At the
same time, the majority of respondents (57%) are ready to leave
Armenia only for a while. Previously, for residing abroad, "agreed":
in 2008 - exactly half of the respondents, in 2011 - 56%, in 2017 -
57%.

The survey was conducted among 1,648 households in different regions
of Armenia, with residents over 18 years old using face to face method
on the basis of random sampling.

Recently, the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law of the
National Academy of Sciences, with the support of the Armenian
Sociological Association, published a monograph "Migration and
Depopulation in Armenia." The authors of the monograph in an interview
with the "Golos Armenii" newspaper noted that the outflow of the
population from Armenia is an extremely stable process. "According to
our forecasts, coinciding with the forecasts of the UN, the population
of Armenia by 2050 under the optimistic scenario will be 2.7 million
people, and under the pessimistic scenario - 1.5 million. It is clear
that migration as a phenomenon is characteristic of the whole world,
moreover, the world developed through migration. It's another matter
when migration takes a threatening character in a given country when
it comes to the situation that scientists describe as depopulation,"
said the Institute's director Gevorg Poghosyan. As the main causes of
depopulation, G. Pogosyan called the fall in the birth rate, the aging
of the population and the third - its outflow. "In Armenia, over the
past 25 years, the birth rate has fallen by half. If in the Soviet
period 75-80 thousand children were born in Armenia every year, now
this figure is 30-35 thousand. The second sign is the aging of the
population, when the proportion of people older than 60 starts to
grow. In Armenia, this figure is 12.9%. And the third cause of
depopulation is the outflow of population. Over the last quarter
century our population has decreased by 33%, "the scientist said.

 

[Yervant1]

Serzh Sarksyan you are the reason people leaving Armenia, leave and take your oligarchs with you!

News.am, Armenia

April 20 2018

PM: Emigration is Armenia’s “bleeding wound”

09:48, 20.04.2018

YEREVAN. – Emigration is Armenia’s “bleeding wound,” said Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, in an interview to a local TV company, and speaking about the program to make the country’s population reach 4 million by the year 2040.

To the remark that the opposition speaks about 300 thousand emigrants in ten years, Sargsyan responded as follows, in particular: “Of course, it’s a bit exaggerated, but emigration is our bleeding wound; very perilous, very painful to us [Armenians]. I’m not saying to justify [it], but we must take into account that emigration is characteristic not just to Armenia.”

As per Sargsyan, emigration is always happening. “We are trying to resolve the problem.”

“Yes, I have declared—and I’m confident—that this is an attainable number: Having a population of 4 million by the year 2040,” added the Armenian PM. “Within the next several weeks, we will start public discussions on Armenia’s development strategy until the year 2030. And the numbers, the indicators that are there will at least convince everyone that we are going toward that main indicator.”

https://news.am/eng/news/447275.html

 

 

[Yervant1]

News.am, Armenia

Aug 6 2019

Newspaper: Births decrease but deaths increase in Armenia

11:25, 06.08.2019

YEREVAN. – The permanent population in the Republic of Armenia (RA) has decreased by 3,700 over the course of six months, Zhoghovurd (People) newspaper wrote.

“According to the data released by the RA statistical committee, as of July 1 of this year, the number of the permanent population of Armenia made 2 million 961 thousand 600 people; this figure has dropped by 8,200, as compared to the same period last year. The number of permanent population [in the] has primarily declined in provincial towns and in villages.

“The number of births has also decreased. If the number of births in Armenia made 16 thousand 111 in the first half of this year, in the same period of last year—16 thousand 261.

“Also, the number of deaths has increased [in Armenia]. As of July 1 of this year, the number of deaths has increased by 572, as compared to the same period last year,” Zhoghovurd wrote.

https://news.am/eng/news/527377.html