According to newly revealed government data, about 44,000 more Armenians departed the country in 2021 than returned, a record amount for the previous several years.

In all, 43,874 Armenians departed the nation in 2021 than arrived. This broke a three-year streak in which the country had positive balances: 15,317 in 2018, 10,506 in 2019, and 12,092 in 2020.

"Out-migration for jobs to Russia averages 60-70,000 each year," Armen Ghazaryan, the head of the country's Migration Service, told. "Those folks didn't leave in 2020, therefore we had no choice but to have them depart in 2021."

According to the statistics, many Armenians returned in the fourth quarter of 2021, as projected. Approximately 103,000 more Armenians departed the nation than returned in the first three quarters of the year, with 64,000 of them leaving in the first quarter alone.

In Armenia, migration statistics appear to correlate with views of economic and political stability. Following the assassination of the country's prime minister, speaker of parliament, and six other legislators in the country's parliament in 1998, net migration reached 60,000 in 2000 and 2001. Following the global financial crisis of 2008, the number of people who left increased to over 40,000 in both 2010 and 2011.