Population of South Ossetia: number and ethnic composition

South Ossetia (RSO) is a state located in Transcaucasia. It is partially recognized as independent, however many countries still do not recognize its independence. He has no boundaries with water banks. There are still disputes over the legal and international status of this country. In many ways this situation has developed due to the heterogeneous ethnic composition of the local population. Let's talk about which peoples live in the given territory and what they are striving for.

Description

Russia, Nauru, Venezuela, as well as Nicaragua recognized the claims of the RSO to freedom as fully justified. In addition, the Abkhaz authorities and a number of other unrecognized countries, such as the NKR and the People's Democratic Republic, partially agree with this. Georgian rule adheres to the point of view that this is only part of their territories. Even the constitution of this state contains statements that these lands are an autonomous region in the past, but certainly not in the present.

There are also such documents in which the whole RSO is called the Tskhinvali region. Throughout 1922-1990-ies. Here was the autonomy, which was part of the Georgian SSR, but then it was abolished.

Four districts were formed. South Ossetia is quite strongly supported by Russia in military, political and economic matters. In 2017, they will hold a referendum on the result of which the state can join the Russian Federation.

Support from outside

The Russians expressed their approval of the claims of the Ossetian population to autonomy from Georgia back in 2008, obviously, with intentionality to annex this territory to the Russian Federation in the future. With this view, Nauru, Venezuela and Nicaragua agreed the following year.

Representatives of the RSO, located abroad, conduct their work. In 2011, its independence was recognized by the Tuvalu government. Russian militants have deployed their base here, which employed 4 thousand people. Of course, the authority of the Russian Federation on the world stage can not be denied. There are suggestions that the rest of the countries recognized South Ossetia as independent, only echoing their guardian, who helps them financially.

So, of course, there are many dark spots in this problem. It's hard to understand where the common sense is, and where is the instinct of self-preservation. Lavrov was accused of visiting Fiji to bribe the local authorities and persuade the Republic of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to his side.

Suspended state

Another unrecognized state that supported South Ossetia is the LNR, which is also, in fact, under the influence of the Russian Federation and has no special choice to express its own thoughts on this situation. In 2015, the agreement on the integration of the RSO and the Russian Federation was signed. The fate of the republic is similar to the position of many other territories that remain sandwiched between several stronger players of the world stage. For the struggle does not remain the strength and resources, and surrender to the tyrant means to give up his freedoms, culture and history. As a rule, such countries wander from hand to hand, staying in a constant process of upholding their own rights. But in the end, the new master is kind and loyal only in words. No matter how noble his slogans were, any action is carried out for personal purposes. It remains only from time to time to remind that patronage was taken voluntarily, therefore, in the same way the republic can refuse it.

Perhaps in the near future South Ossetia will become part of the Russian Federation. I would like to believe that in the event of a positive decision in its favor, the Russian government will not forget about these promises and will treat Ossetians as equals.

Administrative division

It is extremely important that in the future proper conditions for conducting life activities are provided, in which the population of South Ossetia so badly needs after all serious upheavals. The settlements comprise four districts: Dzausky, Tskhinvali, and Znaur and Leningor. In the republican subordination there is only the capital Tskhinval. In fact, against the backdrop of the giants of the political scene of the RSO, in which there are only 2 cities, it seems quite a fragile state. It is clear that because of such small sizes it is just difficult to maintain their own rights to independence. Most people are concentrated in the center of the state. Of course, such a division is something for the Georgian authorities, something akin to the fantasies of the Ossetians, who decided to play in a free republic. In the representations of this "older brother" territories have completely different names and in total make up one of the parts of Georgia. The situation is very similar to the suspended state of the LNR, which both the Russian Federation and Ukraine claim at the same time.

Dynamics of Demography

In 1989, many regions of the USSR, including South Ossetia, were investigated in terms of the number of people and ethnic composition. The census showed that at that time in the country lived 98.53 thousand people. It is interesting to note that in Tskhinval, one of its two cities, the residents counted 42.33 thousand people. Referring to the data of the UN report, you can find out that up to the summer of 2008, 83,000 people lived in the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast.

In November 2006, the population of South Ossetia was 82,500 people. It is worth paying attention to the fact that not all of the present territory was under the control of the state. Only 68 thousand people could be called real legal citizens of the country. The same lands where 14 thousand people lived in 2008, were subordinate to Georgia. The national makeup then was: 58 thousand, or 70%, Ossetians, 22.5 thousand Georgians, which was 27%, as well as other nationalities, whose share was 2 thousand people (3%). On the official Internet resource dedicated to the administration of the president of that time, data were published in accordance with which the population of South Ossetia in 2008 was 72 thousand people. In particular, there were 30,000 people living in Tskhinval.

Consequences of armed action

At the end of the last decade, the population of South Ossetia significantly decreased. The history of 2008 is full of disturbing and exciting moments, which forced people to leave their homes and seek rest in other states. In 2009, also counted, according to which the result was 50 thousand people, which is due to the events of August, during which there was an armed conflict aimed at fighting with Georgia. Abkhazia and Russia also took part in the military operations. In the summer of 2008, the situation escalated to the limit. Completed resistance was the introduction of Russian troops on the battlefield for coercion to conclude peace.

Because of these sad events, the population of South Ossetia has significantly decreased. There were many migrants and refugees. There was a threat that the number of people would fall to 26,000-32,000 (17,000 of them on the territory of Tskhinval), which is negligible compared to the figures for 1989. Only 5,000 people could remain in the metropolitan area, although the census Soviet times showed 23 thousand people. The same number - in the Dzau district, where previously there were 10 thousand people. The same dynamics showed other regions.

Life after the conflict

South Ossetia turned out to be a rather restive territory. The number of people may not be easy to calculate for the reason that there are a large number of illegal immigrants. There is an outflow of people to Russia. Also influenced by factors such as labor migration. In 2011, a rather vague data was given, according to which the population of South Ossetia fluctuates between 30 and 70 thousand people. In 2012, they interviewed people in various parts of the state. In total, there were 51.57 thousand people. In the capital of them lived 28.66 thousand people. In 2013, the study was repeated to establish how much the population in South Ossetia. The result was 51.55 thousand people. In this year 641 new people were born, and 531 citizens passed away. It is worth noting that in 2012 the situation was somewhat worse: 572/582, respectively, in 2011 - 658/575.

Current situation

The population of South Ossetia was also counted during the period October 15-30, 2015. Results showed 51 000 people, of which 30 thousand were residents of Tskhinvali, as well as 7 thousand - the area near the capital. The account was subject to 16 thousand residential buildings. So in 2016 there is an opportunity to learn the latest data on this issue. There are preliminary results, which show that at the current stage there are 53.56 thousand people in the country. In cities of them live 35 thousand, and in villages - 18,5 thousand people. On the basis of gender, the situation is as follows: traditionally, more women - 27.85 thousand, representatives of the same sex 25.7 thousand.

Nationalities

The population of South Ossetia consists mainly of the indigenous inhabitants. Ethnic composition is also characterized by the presence of several other groups, such as the Russian, Armenian, Jewish population. Ossetia in 2012 in the republic was 89.1%, visitors from Georgia - 8.9%, the number of Russians reached 1%, as well as other nationalities. Until 2008, all of them lived peacefully in common settlements. When the armed conflict began, Ossetians began to leave their homes and move to Russia (34 thousand people, which was 70% of this group in the country). The main refuge for them was North Ossetia - Alania.

Migration

There was also a strong outflow to Georgia, which also reduced the population of South Ossetia. The ethnic composition changed because of the evacuation and escape of people to their historical homeland. According to the data computed in the summer of 2008, their total number was 15 thousand people, which is about 80% of this ethnic stratum. It is worth noting that those of them who lived in the Leningorsk district, still returned to their homes, as the government of the RSO made a special statement. Now they can freely move in the direction from Leningor to Tbilisi. Also in 2009, the indigenous population (1,2 thousand people) returned, seeing that the conflict was exhausted. The life of citizens is still unsettled, and the state of the country is suspended. It remains to wait for the results of the 2017 referendum.