Tweet
SCOTCH TAPE AS AN INDICATOR OF MIGRATION FLOWS
by David Stepanyan
Wednesday, April 17, 10:28
Strange as it may sound but early April saw a boom in the sales of
Scotch tape in Armenia, especially in its rural areas. Local sellers
can hardly remember the times Scotch tape was more popular than it is
now. But they have an explanation for this, and it is quite trivial:
the tape is used for wrapping the big bags our compatriots pack when
leaving abroad in search for better life.
Here are the elementary and shocking statistics that have become
quite popular in social networks: as many as 165,274 people left
Armenia through the Zvartnots Airport alone in Q1 2013, with only
141,192 people entering the country during the same period. So,
we have a negative balance of 24,083 people. And this is not even
a season for labor migration. But even these sad statistics are far
from reality. Besides planes, our emigrants use buses, route taxis
and own cars. And are doing it more and more often - for Armavia's
bankruptcy has left many labor migrants with useless tickets in hand.
You will be shocked if you go to some villages. Many of them are
almost empty. And the most shocking thing is that many of our labor
migrants are beginning to settle wherever they work, mostly in
Russia, and to take away their families to their new homes. Left to
guard the local property are mostly elders, who prefer staying here
just to receive some $200-300 a month for living from their younger
relatives abroad. So, most of our emigrants are young able-bodied
and mostly educated people. What will be the end of all this is not
a rhetorical question, but our authorities have no answer to it. The
pension they in present-day independent Armenia pay to the former
builders of industrial Soviet Armenia is hardly enough for buying
bread and cheese and paying the bills.
The key factor forcing villagers to leave is no stable work, no money
for farming and, consequently, no chance to survive. In Yerevan the
situation is a bit different: here among those "waving goodbye" to
their homeland you will see quite well-off citizens. Their motive is
different: they just don't want to live in this country. And the last
presidential election has the last drop for many of them. Few have
been inspired by Serzh Sargsyan's campaign slogan "Towards Secure
Armenia." It seems our compatriots are either unwilling or simply
unable to keep step with the authors of this slogan. Meanwhile,
many experts are warning that by 2050 there will be just 1,500,000
people left in Armenia. So, it is obvious that emigration is growing,
and this growth is an indicator of some negative processes developing
in our society. A demographer or a psychologist would need a whole
essay to explain to you what is actually happening, but just seeing
what is happening at the "exit" will be enough for you to understand.
http://www.arminfo.am/index.cfm?objectid=5BC20AB0-A728-11E2-BB46F6327207157C&view=displaypageArticleWithCommen t
by David Stepanyan
Wednesday, April 17, 10:28
Strange as it may sound but early April saw a boom in the sales of
Scotch tape in Armenia, especially in its rural areas. Local sellers
can hardly remember the times Scotch tape was more popular than it is
now. But they have an explanation for this, and it is quite trivial:
the tape is used for wrapping the big bags our compatriots pack when
leaving abroad in search for better life.
Here are the elementary and shocking statistics that have become
quite popular in social networks: as many as 165,274 people left
Armenia through the Zvartnots Airport alone in Q1 2013, with only
141,192 people entering the country during the same period. So,
we have a negative balance of 24,083 people. And this is not even
a season for labor migration. But even these sad statistics are far
from reality. Besides planes, our emigrants use buses, route taxis
and own cars. And are doing it more and more often - for Armavia's
bankruptcy has left many labor migrants with useless tickets in hand.
You will be shocked if you go to some villages. Many of them are
almost empty. And the most shocking thing is that many of our labor
migrants are beginning to settle wherever they work, mostly in
Russia, and to take away their families to their new homes. Left to
guard the local property are mostly elders, who prefer staying here
just to receive some $200-300 a month for living from their younger
relatives abroad. So, most of our emigrants are young able-bodied
and mostly educated people. What will be the end of all this is not
a rhetorical question, but our authorities have no answer to it. The
pension they in present-day independent Armenia pay to the former
builders of industrial Soviet Armenia is hardly enough for buying
bread and cheese and paying the bills.
The key factor forcing villagers to leave is no stable work, no money
for farming and, consequently, no chance to survive. In Yerevan the
situation is a bit different: here among those "waving goodbye" to
their homeland you will see quite well-off citizens. Their motive is
different: they just don't want to live in this country. And the last
presidential election has the last drop for many of them. Few have
been inspired by Serzh Sargsyan's campaign slogan "Towards Secure
Armenia." It seems our compatriots are either unwilling or simply
unable to keep step with the authors of this slogan. Meanwhile,
many experts are warning that by 2050 there will be just 1,500,000
people left in Armenia. So, it is obvious that emigration is growing,
and this growth is an indicator of some negative processes developing
in our society. A demographer or a psychologist would need a whole
essay to explain to you what is actually happening, but just seeing
what is happening at the "exit" will be enough for you to understand.
http://www.arminfo.am/index.cfm?objectid=5BC20AB0-A728-11E2-BB46F6327207157C&view=displaypageArticleWithCommen t