Armenia (country)

C

Natural Resources

There are few natural resources currently exploited, but there is small-scale extraction of copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, and iron ore. Deposits of mineral salt, calcium oxide, and carbon remain to be exploited on a large scale, and a joint-venture deal has been signed to develop gold processing facilities in Ararat.

D

Plants and Animals

Climate, soil, and vegetation vary greatly throughout Armenia, which contains twice as many soil types as European Russia. Vegetation typical of alpine, semi-desert, and steppe regions dominates much of the republic, although the extreme south-eastern and north-eastern portions contain forests of beech and oak. The republic’s fauna includes wild boar, jackal, lynx, and Syrian bear.

E

Environmental Concerns

Armenia's environment became severely polluted while the region was part of the USSR. The government long ignored the environmental harm caused by these industries, leaving a legacy of air and soil pollution. Contamination of water supplies with oil derivatives, chloride, nitrates, heavy metals, and other pollutants affected domestic supplies and supplies for agriculture. In the 1980s, liberalizing political reforms in the USSR, the public outcry over the Chernobyl accident, and severe air pollution in Yerevan resulted in the formation of environmental groups in Armenia. These groups began to express concerns about the state of the environment, and as a result of the pressure exerted by them, several factories in Armenia that were sources of severe pollution were closed, beginning in 1989. One of these factories, a rubber and chemical plant in Nairit, reopened in 1992 because Armenia needed the income generated by exporting the plant's products.

Although national environmental laws have been put into effect in Armenia since independence, no comprehensive environmental protection programme has emerged, and environmental initiatives are typically addressed on an ad-hoc basis. Nonetheless, the government has designated 7.6 per cent (1997) of Armenia's total land area as protected and has ratified international environmental agreements pertaining to air pollution, biodiversity, climate change, desertification, nuclear test ban, and wetlands.

In an attempt to offset a six-year energy crisis caused by blockades by Azerbaijan and Turkey, the Armenian government reactivated a nuclear power plant at Metsamor in mid-1995. The plant had closed in 1988 after a catastrophic earthquake in northern Armenia. Environmental groups opposed the reopening because the plant poses an environmental threat. Although it is in an earthquake-prone area, the plant was not built to withstand earthquakes.

III

Population

The population of Armenia, estimated at 2,971,650 (2007 estimate), is characterized by a high degree of ethnic homogeneity. Armenians constitute more than 90 per cent of the republic’s population, a proportion that increased considerably in recent years with the departure of Azerbaijanis and the influx of Armenian refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan, because of the conflict in that region. Kurds and Russians are the next two most populous ethnic groups in the republic, but they each comprise only about 1.5 per cent of Armenia’s total population. Small numbers of Ukrainians, Georgians, and Greeks also live in the republic. Life expectancy in 2007 was 72 years.

A

Population Characteristics

The overall population density of Armenia was estimated to be 105 people per sq km (271 per sq mi) in 2007. The urban population is approximately 64 per cent of the total, with the population of Yerevan, the capital city, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the total urban population. Large numbers of Armenians have emigrated; it has been estimated that there are 1.5 million Armenians in the former Soviet republics and 2.5 million in the United States of America. Life expectancy in 2007 was estimated to be 69 years for males and 76 for females.