Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LANGUAGE, POPULATION, CLIMATE
Armenian is an ancient language. It a branch of the Indo-European family of languages.
The Armenian alphabet was created in the 5th century by Mesrop Mashtots. The official lan-
guage of the country is Armenian which is spoken by the whole population. Since formerly
Armenia was a Soviet country some part of Armenians also speak Russian. English as well
as French and German are also studied and spoken by Armenians who, by the way, have
great abilities for languages.
The greatest part of Armenians living in Europe, East and the USA speak Western Ar-
menian.
Armenia has a high mountain climate with constantly penetrating warm and cool air cur-
rents.
In winter the temperature may drop to 40
o
C below zero. The temperature in the mountain
zones around Mt. Aragats is even lower while in Yerevan it doesn't drop over than 10
o
C be-
low zero in winter.
In summer the temperature in the capital may sometimes reach 40
o
C above zero and in
the mountain zones 20
o
C above zero. Summers are usually long and winters are snowy.
In hot Yeravan summers it is a pleasure to rest on the shores of lake Sevan.
The 1/3 part of the population of Armenia lives in Yerevan and the rest in other towns
and villages.
Over 95% of the population is Armenian, 2% is Russian and the rest are other ethnic
groups such as Yesidis, Kurds, Jews, Assyrians, Greeks, Gypsies, The average duration of
life for men is 68 years, for women 75, the literacy rate is almost 98.
