Hojimahmad Umarov, an economist at Tajikistan\'s Economic Research Institute, said on 11 May that the high annual rate of migration of able-bodied young people out of Tajikistan in search of work is affecting the country\'s birthrate. Umarov was quoted as saying that about one-third of the approximately 800,000 labor migrants who leave the country each year start families in the place where they find work, even if they already have families in Tajikistan. The result, said Umarov, is a shortage of marriageable young men and a growing number of children without fathers at home. Other sources have warned that many women in Tajik villages are being left without any means of support for themselves and their children. Umarov said that while the Tajik birthrate was 40 per 1,000 in 1985, it is now considerably lower because of labor migration, the ravages of the 1992-97 civil war, and the general poverty of the population. Senior Tajik officials, including President Imomali Rakhmonov, have said job creation must be a top priority for the country. (ITAR-TASS)