STEPANAKERT (Armenpress)–Authorities in Mountainous Karabagh Republic will conduct a population census October 18-27–making it the first since since the country declared independence from Azerbaijan. Officials said the census is another step towards "consolidating Karabagh’s independence."
In guiding the procedure–Armenia will be sending the head of its National Statistics Committee–Stepan Mnatsakanian–to detail the process that will be conducted by a government commission–which Karabagh’s deputy prime minister heads.
President Arkady Ghukasian said the census is necessary in order for the government to target specific projects and forecast socio-economic developmen’s–based on the returns.
The last census in Karabagh was held in 1989–when the population was 192,000 (76 percent Armenian; 23 percent Azeri; 1 percent Russian and Kurd).
