January 28, 2009 - 21:18 AMT
23 thousand people left Armenia in 2008
Substantial increase in migration was fixed in 2008, according to the migration agency at the RA ministry of territorial administration.
The Armenian state border was crossed 2 mln 817 thousand times last year. The number of leaving people exceeded the number of those arriving with 23 059.
It has been the worst index since 2001 when 60 thousand people left the republic. At that, the largest human drain was fixed in March-April, after the tragic events that followed the February presidential election.
It's also reported that 600 thousand people visited Armenia as tourists. They were mostly Armenians from the United States, France, Georgia and Iran.