Demographics & population — Armenia
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Demographics & population at a glance
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators. Key figure for Armenia: 2,976,765
Immigration rules and fees change frequently — confirm current requirements on official government or embassy websites.
Population overview
- Population
2,976,765
- Population Growth Rate
-0.42%
- Population Distribution
most of the population is located in the northern half of the country; the capital of Yerevan is home to more than five times as many people as Gyumri, the second largest city in the country
- Urban Population
- urban population: 63.7%
- of total population rate of urbanization: 0.23% annual rate of change
- Population in Major Urban Areas
1.095 million YEREVAN (capital)
- Population: Male/Female
- male: 1,456,415
- female: 1,520,350
Age & family
- Age Structure
- years: 17.7% (male 275,589/female 250,630) 15-64
- years: 67% (male 991,490/female 1,004,101) 65
- years and over: 15.3% (male 189,336/female 265,619)
- Median Age
- total: 38.9
- years male: 37.6
- years female: 40.3 years
- Birth Rate - births/1,000 population
11
- Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population
9.6
- Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman
1.65
- Gross reproduction rate
1
- Child Marriage
- women married by age 15: 0%
- women married by age 18: 5.3%
- men married by age 18: 0.4%
- Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49
57.1%
- Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49
57.1%
- Currently married women (ages 15-49)
64.8%
- Mean Age for Mother's First Birth (age 25-49)
25.2
- Mother's mean age at first birth
25.2
- Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female
- at birth: 1.07
- male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.1
- male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.99
- male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.71
- male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female
Migration
- Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population
-5.2
- Demographic profile
Armenia’s population peaked at nearly 3.7 million in the late 1980s but has declined sharply since independence in 1991, to just over 3 million in 2021, largely as a result of its decreasing fertility rate, increasing death rate, and negative net emigration rate.
The total fertility rate (the average number of children born per woman) first fell below the 2.1 replacement level in the late 1990s and has hovered around 1.6-1.65 for over 15 years.
In an effort to increase the country’s birth rate, the government has expanded its child benefits, including a substantial increase in the lump sum payment for having a first and second child and a boost in the monthly payment to mothers of children under two.
Reversing net negative migration, however, remains the biggest obstacle to stabilizing or increasing population growth.
Emigration causes Armenia not only lose individuals but also the children they might have.
The emigration of a significant number of working-age people combined with decreased fertility and increased life expectancy is causing the elderly share of Armenia’s population to grow.
The growing elderly population will put increasing pressure on the government’s ability to fund the pension system, health care, and other services for seniors.
Improving education, creating more jobs (particularly in the formal sector), promoting labor market participation, and increasing productivity would mitigate the financial impact of supporting a growing elderly population.
Armenia has a long history of migration, some forced and some voluntary.
Its large diaspora is diverse and dispersed around the world.
Widely varying estimates suggest the Armenian diaspora may number anywhere from 5-9 million, easily outnumbering the number of Armenians living in Armenia.
Armenians forged communities abroad from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to Russia and to the Americas, where they excelled as craftsmen, merchants, and in other occupations.
Several waves of Armenian migration occurred in the 20th century.
In the aftermath of the 1915 Armenian genocide, hundreds of thousands of survivors fled to communities in the Caucasus (including present day Armenia), Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Europe, and Russia and established new communities in Africa and the Americas.
In the 1930s, the Soviets deported thousands of Armenians to Siberia and Central Asia.
After World War II, the Soviets encouraged the Armenian diaspora in France, the Middle East, and Iran to return the Armenian homeland in order to encourage population growth after significant losses in the male workforce during the war.
Following Armenian independence in 1991, the economic downturn and high unemployment prompted hundreds of thousands of Armenians to seek better economic opportunities primarily in Russia but also in the US, former Soviet states, and Europe.
In the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Armenians fled from Azerbaijan to Armenia because of the ongoing Nagorno-Karbakh conflict, but many of them then emigrated again, mainly to Russia and the US.
When the economy became more stable in the late 1990s, permanent emigration slowed, but Armenians continued to seek temporary seasonal work in Russia.
The remittances families receive from relatives working abroad is vital to Armenian households and the country’s economy.
Ethnicity & language
- Ethnic Groups
Armenian 98.1%, Yezidi 1.1%, other 0.8%
- Language Note
Armenian (official) 97.9%, Kurmanji (spoken by Yezidi minority) 1%, other 1.1%; note - Russian is widely spoken
- Nationality Noun
- Armenian(s) adjective: Armenian
Education
- Literacy - total population
99.8%
- Literacy - male
99.8%
- Literacy - female
99.7%
- Literacy Definition
age 15 and over can read and write
- Education Expenditures - percent of GDP
2.8%
- Total School Life Expectancy - (primary to tertiary)
- total: 13
- years male: 13
- years female: 14 years
Health & living conditions
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- total population: 76.7
- years male: 73.4
- years female: 80.1 years
- Infant Mortality Rate
- total: 11.6 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 13.1 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 10 deaths/1,000 live births
- Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births
- total: 11.6 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 13.1 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 10 deaths/1,000 live births
- Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births
27
- Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population
4.4
- Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population
4.2
- Health Expenditures - percent of GDP
12.2%
- Obesity - adult prevalence rate
20.2%
- Tobacco Use
- total: 25.5%
- male: 49.4%
- female: 1.5%
- Alcohol consumption per capita
- total: 3.77
- liters of pure alcohol beer: 0.52
- liters of pure alcohol wine: 0.46
- liters of pure alcohol spirits: 2.78
- liters of pure alcohol other alcohols: 0.01 liters of pure alcohol
- Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 100%
- of population rural: 100%
- of population total: 100% of population
- Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 100%
- of population rural: 84.6%
- of population total: 94.4%
- urban: 0%
- of population rural: 15.4%
- of population total: 5.6% of population
- Underweight - percent of children under five years
2.6%