Migration in Armenia has long been considered as an area of utmost importance. High rates of outmigration starting from 1991 independence are now coupled with the volumes of immigration, which got a new impetus after the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war and the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict that led thousands of people to enter Armenia. Thus, the country is now dealing both with emigration and immigration flows, and the better understanding of these phenomena would be of high importance for a wide range of actors that are interested in human mobility, such as the government, academia, NGOs and others.

Migration outflux from Armenia is predominantly associated with demographic (security, braindrain) as well as migration-development nexus’ perspectives (economic development, money transfers, diaspora mapping and engagement). The influx in its turn is mostly viewed through the prism of migration management and integration. Hence, it is crucial to understand the nature and composition of migration in the Armenian context for a set of reasons, including policy planning and implementation. However, the analysis of the vast body of literature sheds some light on the scarcity and imperfectness of migration data, let alone statistics, which are vital prerequisites for understanding the very topic. These lead to a simple research question: RQ How is migration captured in Armenia? For answering this question 13 key informant interviews were conducted, which have been examined through thematic network analysis.

In order to present the analysis and findings, the current study adheres to the following structure. First, the literature review concentrates on the international experience from a broader perspective by elucidating the existing approaches of capturing migration. In particular, this paper primarily analyzes post-soviet nations in the middle-income category in Eurasia. Then, the analysis narrows down to regional and sub-regional states, with a final focus on the Armenian case. Afterwards, a thorough presentation of the research methods follows in the methodology part. The findings and discussion of the study succeeds subsequently, which are later epitomized in the concluding part along with the derived recommendations.