Demographics of Abkhazia
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Abkhazia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health, socioeconomic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The demographics of Abkhazia were very strongly affected by the 1992-1993 War with Georgia, which saw the expulsion and flight of over half of the republic's population, measuring 525,061 in the 1989 census.[1] The ethnic composition of Abkhazia in past and current times plays a central role in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict.
Size
The exact present size of Abkhazia's population is unclear. According to the census carried out in 2003 it measured 215,972 people,[1] but this is contested by Georgian authorities. The Department of Statistics of Georgia estimated Abkhazia's population to be approximately 179,000 in 2003, and 178,000 in 2005 (the last year when such estimates were published in Georgia).[2]
Encyclopædia Britannica estimates the population in 2007 at 180,000[3] and the International Crisis Group estimates Abkhazia's total population in 2006 to be between 157,000 and 190,000 (or between 180,000 and 220,000 as estimated by United Nations Development Program in 1998).[4]
The size of Abkhazia's population more than halved due to the 1992-1993 war - at the time of the 1989 census it had measured 525,061.[2]
According to the last census in 2011 Abkhazia had 240,705 inhabitants.[5]
Vital statistics
| Average population (x 1000) | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate (per 1000) | Crude death rate (per 1000) | Natural change (per 1000) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 218 | 1,816 | 1,142 | 674 | 8.3 | 5.3 | 3.1 |
| 2004 | 221 | 1,919 | 1,233 | 686 | 8.7 | 5.6 | 3.1 |
Ethnic composition
The population of Abkhazia remains ethnically very diverse, even after the 1992-1993 War. At present the population of Abkhazia is mainly made up of ethnic Abkhaz, Georgians (mostly Mingrelians), Hamshemin Armenians, and Russians. Prior to the war, ethnic Georgians made up 45.7% of Abkhazia's population, however, by 1993, most Georgians and some Russians and Armenians had fled Abkhazia or had been ethnically cleansed.[6]
Historical developments
The earliest reliable records for Abkhazia are the Family Lists compiled in 1886, according to which the Sukhum Okrug (district of the Kutais Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire) population was 68,773 of which 4,166 were Georgians (3,558 Mingrelians), 58,963 Abkhaz (including Samurzaq’anians), 2,149 Greeks, 1,090 Armenians, 1,090 Russians, 637 Estonians.
"It is in any case easy to see that, and why, the Samurzaq’anians[7] are the bone of contention between Abkhaz and Georgians. According to the Family Lists, they were actually the most numerous group of all. Some (pro-)Abkhaz scholars have stated the percentage of Abkhaz in Abkhazia for 1886 to have been 85.7%; that clearly is an addition of Abkhaz plus Samurzaq’anoans (30,640 + 28,323 = 58,963 or 85.7% of 68,773). On the other hand, some (pro-)Georgian scholars have claimed that actually they, the 'Georgians', were in a majority of 50.6%, clearly arriving at this by adding all Kartvelians (Mingrelians [and some Laz for Sukhum town] + Georgians [including Imeretians and Gurians] to the Samurzaq’anoans (30,640 + 3,558 + 515 + 84 + 9 = 34,806 or 50.6% of 68,773). Presentation of figures should always be supported by explanation of how they are calculated. While the (pro-)Abkhaz may be criticized for the form they choose, they are quite justified in the essence: the very source itself compiles additional summary tables, and in these, Samurzaq’anoans are not listed, but the number of Abkhaz in Kutaisskaja Gubernija is given as 60,432. Now, in Batumi (city and okrug), 1,469 Abkhaz were listed; thus 58,963 remain - clearly, these are the Abkhaz plus the Samurzaq’anoans in our okrug! Besides the proof offered by the table, we have additional evidence in the fact that Samurzaq’anoans and Abkhaz are kept apart quite neatly. Only in two villages in Gumista, far from Samurzaq’an(o), are both listed side by side; elsewhere, it is either one or the other: Abkhaz in the rest of Gumista, in Gudauta and in K’odor (minus one large village of Samurzaq’anoans with no Abkhaz), Samurzaq’anoans in Samurzaq’an(o). Clearly the authorities had trouble distinguishing Abkhaz and Samurzaq’anoans,[8] going by territorial divisions instead. On the other hand, they seem to have had little difficulty distinguishing Mingrelians and Samurzaq’anoans, who are regularly listed living side by side".[9]
According to the 1897 census there were 58,697 people in Abkhazia who listed Abkhaz as their mother tongue, 23,810 people listed Mingrelian as their mother tongue, 1,971 people listed Georgian (including Imeretian dialect) as their mother tongue. The population of the Sukhumi district (Abkhazia) was about 100,000 at that time. Greeks, Russians and Armenians composed 3.5%, 2% and 1.5% of the district's population. By the end of the nineteenth century, Abkhazians made up slightly more than 53% of the population of Abkhazia. According to the 1917 agricultural census organized by the Russian Provisional Government, Georgians and Abkhaz composed 41.7% (54,760) and 30,4% (39,915) of the rural population of Abkhazia respectively.
During the Soviet Union, the Russian, Armenian, Greek and Georgian population grew faster than the Abkhaz, due to the large-scale migration enforced especially under the rule of Joseph Stalin and Lavrenty Beria, who himself was a Georgian born in Abkhazia.[10]
In 2008 almost all of the circa 2000 Svans in the upper Kodori Valley fled Abkhazia when this tract of land was conquered by the Abkhazian army during the August war. The Abkhazian authorities have appealed for the Svan refugees to return, but by late March 2009 only 130 people continued to live in the upper Kodori Valley.
In 1993, during the military conflict, nearly all Samurzaq'anoans left Abkhazia, however after some time nearly all came back.[11]
The Abkhazian government has been trying to attract members of the Abkhaz diaspora (mainly in Turkey).[12] In August 2013, the State Committee for Repatriation announced that since 1993, 7365 diaspora members had returned to Abkhazia, of which 4268 from Turkey, 494 from Syria, 107 from Egypt and Jordan and 2496 from Russia and other countries.[13]
In September 2014, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia announced that 273 Ukrainians fleeing the War in Donbass had come to Abkhazia.[14]
The following tables summarise the results of the censuses carried out in Abkhazia.
| Year | Georgians | Abkhaz | Russians | Armenians | Greeks | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1886 Family Lists | 6.1 % (4,166) |
85.7 % (58,963) |
1.6 % (1,090) |
1.6% (1,090) |
3.1% (2,149) |
68,773 |
| 1897 Census | 24.4% (25,873) |
55.3% (58,697) |
4,8% (5,135) |
6.2% (6,552) |
5.1% (5,393) |
106,179 |
| 1926 Census | 33.6% (67,494) |
27.3% (55,918) |
6.7% (12,553) |
12.8% (25,677) |
7.6% (14,045) |
201,016 |
| 1939 Census | 29.5% (91,967) |
18.0% (56,197) |
19.3% (60,201) |
15.9% (49,705) |
11.1% (34,621) |
311,885 |
| 1959 Census | 39.1% (158,221) |
15.1% (61,193) |
21.4% (86,715) |
15.9% (64,425) |
2.2% (9,101) |
404,738 |
| 1970 Census | 41.0% (199,596) |
15.9% (77,276) |
19.1% (92,889) |
15.4% (74,850) |
2.7% (13,114) |
486,959 |
| 1979 Census | 43.9% (213,322) |
17.1% (83,087) |
16.4% (79,730) |
15.1% (73,350) |
2.8% (13,642) |
486,082 |
| 1989 Census | 45.7% (239,872) |
17.8% (93,267) |
14.3% (74,913) |
14.6% (76,541) |
2.8% (14,664) |
525,061 |
| 2003 Census[1] | 21.3% (45,953) |
43.8% (94,606) |
10.8% (23,420) |
20.8% (44,870) |
0.7% (1,486) |
215,972 |
| 2011 Census | 19.2% (46,367) |
50.7% (122,069) |
9.1% (22,077) |
17.4% (41,864) |
0.6% (1,380) |
240,705 |
See also
Notes
References
- 1 2 3 Population censuses in Abkhazia: 1886, 1926, 1939, 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989, 2003 (in Russian) Georgian and Mingrelian figures have been conflated, as most of the "Georgians" were ethnically Mingrelian.
- 1 2 Statistical Yearbook of Georgia 2005: Population, Table 2.1, p. 33, Department for Statistics, Tbilisi (2005)
- ↑ Origins and Evolutions of the "Abkhazia." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online 09 Sep. 2008.Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict, by Stephen D. Shenfield
- ↑ Abkhazia Today. Archived May 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The International Crisis Group Europe Report N°176, 15 September 2006, page 9. Free registration needed to view full report
- ↑ Population census in Abkhazia 2011 Archived 2012-02-09 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Origins and Evolutions of the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict, by Stephen D. Shenfield
- ↑ Samurzaq'an(o) in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (Russian)
- ↑ One bibliographical rarity not mentioned in this article is Mach’avariani (1913). This Mingrelian-born Kartvelian, raised in Samurzaq’an(o)/Abkhazia, had been arguing since the 1890s that Samurzaq’anoans were Abkhazians. In 1913 he calculated that Abkhazia's population was 140,000; of these he numbered the Abkhazians at 82,960 (including 33,639 Samurzaq’anoans who deemed themselves to be Abkhazians), making Abkhazians 60% of Abkhazia's population (pp.7, 116, 139, 150, 179) [Editor].
- ↑ Ethno-demographic history of Abkhazia, 1886–1989, by Daniel Müller.
- ↑ The Stalin-Beria Terror in Abkhazia, 1936-1953, by Stephen D. Shenfield
- ↑ "Этнические процессы в Самурзакане (Гальском районе)." ("Etnhhic Processes in Samurkazan (Gali District) ") (in Russian)
- ↑ "Abkhazia Lures Its Expatriates, Welcoming Them One by One". The New York Times. July 5, 2009.
- ↑ "С 1993 года по 2013 год госкомитетом РА по репатриации зарегистрировано 7 365 человек". Apsnypress. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
- ↑ "В Абхазии с мая этого года зарегистрировано 273 гражданина Украины". Apsnypress. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.