Armenia’s population declined by 10,000 people as of October 1, 2013, since the beginning of the year, ARKA reports.

As of October 1, number of population was 3,017,000 people, of them 1,913,400 living in towns and 1,103,600 being rural residents.

According to the National Statistical Service, negative migration balance exceeds the population growth.

Armenia’s border e-management system database points to a total of 3,668,400 trips through the country’s checkpoints in January-September.

Number of arrivals in the country totaled 1,780,206 in the reporting period (increase of 11.6% against January-September 2012); number of departures was 1,888,183 (11.5% increase). Passenger traffic balance (difference between arrivals and departures) was 122,200 trips (increase of 11.7%).

Number of children born in the nine months dropped by 1.9% to 30,477, compared to the same period in 2012. Number of deaths declined by 3% to 20,268.

As Gagiik Makaryan, the chairman of the Union of Employers of Armenia, said in October, only 2-3% of migrants return to Armenia for permanent residence.