The National Statistical Committee has published data recording that in 2019 the lowest figure for newly independent Armenia was registered — 2 million 965 thousand people. What accounts for this decline in population? In response to a question from «Arajin Lratvakan», the head of the demography division of the RA Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, demographer Artak Markosyan, said: «According to 1990 data, about 3 million 514 thousand people lived in Armenia, which is the highest indicator in the history of newly independent Armenia. Let me note that in 1921, when we were joining the Soviet Union, 770 thousand people lived in Armenia, and in 1926 that number reached 881 thousand. In the period 1926-1990, Armenia’s population had grown about 4.7 times. Yes, during that period we had quite good growth. I should note that although repatriation also played a role in population growth at that time, it was mainly conditioned by a high rate of natural increase.
Emigration had not started in 1991; from 1980 Armenia was already a country showing a negative picture of migration. That is, emigration had already begun, and regardless of whether the Soviet Union would collapse or not, it was going to continue, because the jobs available in Armenia were not sufficient for the people entering the labour market. That is, in the 1950s-60s we had quite high birth rates, and people born in those years entered the labour market in the 1980s, but jobs were already being created in smaller numbers, and young people had begun to leave Armenia for other republics of the Soviet Union».
