At a press conference yesterday at the Henaran Club, Gagik Yeganyan, Director of the Migration Agency at the Ministry of Territorial Administration, questioned the sources of those who claim that emigration from Armenia had reached unprecedented levels during the past two years.

In fact, Mr. Yeganyan publicly urges all those with substantive proof of the rising emigration trend to come forth and present their evidence.

Let us be the first to do just that and, as bizarre as it may seem, let us use sources taken from his agency's own website.

According to agency statistics, the difference between those leaving and returning to Armenia in 2008 was a negative 23,100 individuals; in 2009 – 25,000; in 2010 – 29,900.

Thus, on average, 26,000 of those leaving the country didn't return. Such crucial numbers haven't been registered since 2001. The largest negative balance was 10,161 back in 2003. This deficit has doubled in the last three years.

Thus, over the past three years 77,891 individuals have left and not returned.

This number constitutes 65% of the 118,047 who left during the period 2001-2010 and haven't returned.

In essence, these numbers taken from his own agency's website would seem to contradict the claims of Mr. Yeganyan that there really isn't anything to worry about.

In an attempt to argue that the emigration of recent years isn't as widespread as rumoured, Mr. Yeganyan makes a comparison to the emigration of the 1990s.

True, the figures back then were much greater but we must not forget that we are now talking about a population of Armenia that barely tops around 3 million.

And to have lost 78,000 individuals in the past three years makes the current depopulation figures just as alarming as in the 1990s.