Demographic situation in Abkhazia

According to Valery Malia, head of the Abkhazian passport and visa service, there are around 200,000 people in Abkhazia. Of these 74,000 are ethnic Abkhaz, 32,000 Armenians and 18,000 Russians, with only 12,000 Georgians. These are the numbers of people with passports, and to these should be added people under 18.

However these figures are challenged by analysts, who say that before the war in Abkhazia around half a million people lived there. More than 300,000 Georgians have been thrown out of the country and around 70,000 others, including Abkhaz, have left it voluntarily.

The legal, pro-Georgian Government of the Abkhazian Autonomous Republic states that there are up to 167,000 people in Abkhazia today, of which 57,000 are Armenian, 46,000 Georgian, only 34,000 Abkhazian, 23,000 Russian and so on.