DUSHANBE, April 17, Asia-Plus – More than 10 percent of the GBAO population is labor migrants. 

Of 218,000 population of the region, more than 22,000 are working in the Russian Federation.  

According to the GBAO migration service, some 10,000 residents of Gorno Badakhshan received passports for foreign travel last year.  

In the meantime, the state unitary enterprise Badakhshonkhorijakor (regional organization for external labor migration) said that most labor migrants prefer to get jobs in Russia independently.  

According to the branch of Tajik central bank in Khorog, labor migrants last year remitted some $23.382 million to banks in the region.  “For many families in Gorno Badakhshan, especially those living in remote areas, remittances are the only source of income,” the source at said.