According to the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Issues of Armenia, Ashot Yesayan, the social-economic hardships of the past 15 years have resulted in a five-fold decrease in population growth in Armenia, reported Day.az, citing ArmInfo. During the 1990-2005 period, the birth rate in Armenia decreased by half and the mortality rate increased by 32.3 percent. Another factor in the demographic decline was immigration, reported the news sources, citing Yesayan. In the 1991-1994 period, two thirds of Armenias population, or 590,000 people, left the country. Overall, during the 15 years of independence more than 900,000 people have emigrated to other countries.
Sociological data also revealed a sharp decline in the number of marriages: between 1990 and 2000, the number of legal unions decreased by 40 percent.  In addition, the number of families with two, three or more children became less with each year, reported the Deputy Minister. Families that have three children currently constitute less than 7 percent of all families in Armenia.
This information was originally published March 5, 2007 (www.day.az). -- 03/15/2007