Some 25,000 Armenians emigrate annually; minister says

YEREVAN, September 12. / ARKA /. Armenia’s territorial administration minister Armen Gevorkian said today about 25,000 Armenian citizens emigrate annually. Speaking at a parliament Q&A session he said the numbers are not exact because of ‘certain calculation methodology problems.’

"Today, the only sources of information are the airport and customs points in Bagratashen and Bavra on the Armenian-Georgian border, but it is difficult to determine which part of the recorded stream of people passing through the customs offices or the airport are migrants," he said. Gevorkian said a task force was set up to address this question.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the negative migration balance in the first quarter of 2012 amounted to 28,100 , up from 20,392 people from a year earlier. -0-