Editing Demographics of Armenia (section)

== Emigration ==
[[File:Net migration per 1000 in Armenia.png|thumb|450x450px|Annual net migration rate (per 1000 population). Source data and projections (2019) from UN.]]
Compared to its neighbouring countries, Armenia has the highest share of immigrants (6.5 percent of total population, 2017 data).<ref name=":5" />

The estimated number of population net migration is −24.8 thousand persons, according to the Integrated living conditions survey of households of 2016; for urban population −13.8 thousand and for rural population −11.0 thousand persons.<ref name=":0" />

24.9% of households were involved in external and internal migration processes over the period of 2013– 2016. Migration directions were distributed as follows: 12% – internal, 10.5% – [[Republic of Artsakh]], rest (76.4%) – international (of which 89.8% – Russia). Among household members of age 15 and above, who left their permanent residence in 2013–2016 for 3 months and longer and had not returned as of 2016, 11.9% were in Armenia, 13.0% in Artsakh, and 75.1% in other countries, predominantly in Russia. More than 54% of migrant household members of the age 15 years and above sent money and/ or goods to their families/relatives/friends within 12 months preceding the survey.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.armstat.am/file/article/demog_2017_7.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.armstat.am/file/article/demog_2017_7.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=The Demographic Handbook of Armenia, 2017 – Migration|date=n.d.}}</ref>

According to 2019 [[UN]] data, the emigration rate averaged annually around 1.7 per 1000 inhabitants in years 2015–2020 and is expected to remain the same until year 2045. These are below average emigration rate of 11.5 per 1000 in years 2000–2010 and even below the emigration rate of 3.2 per 1000 in years 1980–1985.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Population Prospects – Population Division |url=https://population.un.org/wpp/DataQuery/ |access-date=30 October 2019 |publisher=United Nations}}</ref>

=== Migration during post-Soviet period ===
It is estimated that 740,000-1,300,000 people left Armenia between 1988 and 2005.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |url=https://publications.iom.int/books/migration-perspectives-eastern-europe-and-central-asia-2006 |title=Migration Perspectives in Eastern Europe and Central Asia - 2006 |language=en}}</ref>

Economically recessed situation in Armenia during the 1990s enhanced the emigration of 125,000 refugees and displaced persons. Human and natural disasters also caused approximately 192,000 individuals to become internally displaced persons in Armenia. Among the disasters, the major impact was the [[1988 Armenian earthquake|1988 Spitak earthquake]].<ref name=":7" />

After the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|collapse of the Soviet Union]], borders that were once formal, now assumed real significance. Nonetheless, increased political, inter-ethnic, and social tensions prompted more and more people to migrate between Armenia and its neighbouring countries. As a result, approximately 100,000 persons or 3 percent of the country's population emigrated during the beginning of 1990s.<ref name=":7" />

Refugees and forcibly displaced persons started arriving to Armenia in spring 1988 and continued coming until late 1991. During this time, Armenia gave shelter to approximately 419,000 refugees and displaced persons, 360,000 of whom migrated from Azerbaijan. The rest immigrated from other regions of the former Soviet Union.<ref name=":7" />

{{Pie chart|value1=86|value2=7|value3=3|value4=4|color1=blue|color2=red|color3=yellow|color4=white|label1=Refugees from Azerbaijan|label2=Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh|label3=Persons Forcibly displaced|label4=Refugees from Shahumyan (bordering Nagorno-Karabakh)|caption=419.000 people migrated to Armenia during the post-Soviet period}}

Migration flows during the post-soviet period can be divided into 3 stages:

* The first stage, prior to 1995, was characterized by mass emigration due to economic reasons, a drop in living standards, and a rapid deterioration in the delivery and quality of public utilities. It is estimated that over 800,000 people emigrated from Armenia during this period and that only 400,000 of them have returned since then.
* During the second stage, from 1995 to 2001, emigration decreased, with most of those leaving to be labour migrants in search of better economic and social opportunities. 180,000 people (6 per cent of the population) emigrated from Armenia during these six years These emigrants tended to resettle abroad permanently and were later joined by relatives through family reunification.
* The third stage, from 2002 to the present, is marked by a constant yearly increase in the number of persons travelling to and from Armenia. This stage was also characterized by a shift to a positive migration balance.<ref name=":7" />

According to government records, over 55 per cent of all emigrants are unmarried and 60 per cent are males between the ages of 20 and 44 (very few are children and even fewer are elderly people). Most have an educational level far higher than the national average and have no intention of returning to Armenia. Although no hard data exists, emigrant families appear to be even less likely to return.<ref name=":7" />

The emigration of the major part of the Armenian population has brought about important changes. For example, a decrease in the number of people of reproductive age in Armenia has led to a progressive drop in marriages and birth rates. There has also been a considerable change in the ethnic composition of the population in Armenia due to a higher rate of emigration among ethnic minorities.<ref name=":7" />