03 November 2009, 16:00
Outflow of Russian-speaking population from Dagestan continues
In the last 20 years, the Russian-speaking population of Dagestan dropped by more than a third. This fact was announced at the session of the governmental commission on the problems of the Russian-speaking population held in Makhachkala.
According to the 2002 All-Russian census, there were 2.6 million residents in Dagestan. The most numerous were the Avars - 29.4 percent of the total population; Russians took the fifth place - 4.7 percent. Other nationalities were distributed as follows: Dargins - 16.5 percent, Kumyks - 14.1 percent, Lezghins - 13.1 percent, Laks - 5.4 percent, Azerbaijanis - 4.3 percent, Tabasarans - 4.3 percent, Chechens - 3.4 percent, Nogais - 1.48 percent, Rutuls - 0.94 percent, Aguls - 0.9 percent, Tsakhurs - 0.3 percent, Jews (Tats, Mountain Jews and European Jews) - 0.13 percent.
According to the Minister for National Policy, Information and Foreign Relations of Dagestan, now about 120 thousand Russians live in Dagestan. Territorially, the greatest outflow of Russians is from Makhachkala - about 45 percent, and the northern region of Dagestan (Kizlyar and Tarumov Districts), where Russians have lived historically.
Author: Timur Isaev Source: CK correspondent
