Armenian Emigration: Trickle May Become a Flood

With the Armenian economy's winter of discontent far from over, a second surge of mass emigration may be afoot, the United Nations Development Programme warns.

As many as 300,000 Armenians could leave for the greener pastures of Russia, Europe and the United States, if quality of life within Armenia does not improve quickly, the UNDP report concluded. Armenian men who work abroad and send home their earnings -- a significant part of the Armenian economy –  might well choose to import their families, if the government does not manage to create more jobs, stability and democracy, the report said.

Armenians first started leaving their homeland en masse during the topsy-turvy years of the Soviet Union's breakup.