96.1% of Armenian emigrants preferred Russia last year

Combating emigration is combating the causes of emigration, Gagik Eganyan, Head of the Migration Department, Ministry of Regional Administration of Armenia says, Tert.am reports.

“We can use sociological instruments to get data. Based on the surveys, I can say that 600,000 people emigrated from Armenia in 1992-1994. In 1995-2001, 350,000 people emigrated from Armenia. In 1992-1994, more than 60 percent of the emigrants explained the reason for their leaving Armenia was guest work, and only 15-20 percent said they were leaving Armenia forever. In 2002-2015, a total of 400,000 emigrated from Armenia. A total of 1.3 million people left Armenia during the period under review,” he said.

According to Tert.am, before 2001, 65% of Armenians used to leave for Russia, 10% to the United States and 7-8 percent to the other regions of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Since 2002, most people have emigrated to Russia. Last year, 96.1% of the emigrants left for Russia for employment purposes.