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The Demogeographic Crisis in Racha Georgia Depopulation in the CentralCaucasus MountainsAuthor(s) Thomas Kohler Nodar Elizbarashvili Giorgi Meladze Davit Svanadze and Heino MeessenSource Mountain Research and Development 37(4)415-424Published By International Mountain Societyhttpsdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-000641URL httpwwwbiooneorgdoifull101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-000641

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The Demogeographic Crisis in Racha GeorgiaDepopulation in the Central Caucasus MountainsThomas Kohler 1 Nodar Elizbarashvili 2 Giorgi Meladze2 Davit Svanadze2 and Heino Meessen1

Corresponding author thomaskohlercdeunibech1 Centre for Development and Environment University of Bern Hallerstrasse 10 3012 Bern Switzerland2 Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Department of Regional Geography and Landscape Planning Tbilisi Georgia

2017 Kohler et al This open access article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 40 International License (httpcreativecommonsorglicensesby40) Please credit the authors and the full source

Many rural mountain areasacross the world are facingdepopulation due tooutmigration and negativenatural population growthThis study examinesdepopulation in themountains of Georgiabased on the example of

Oni municipality in the Racha region on the southern slopes ofthe Central (Greater) Caucasus Depopulation in Oni as in otherGeorgian mountain areas has been driven by thesocioeconomic and political disruption associated with theongoing transition from a planned to a market economy afterthe demise of the Soviet Union Based on official Georgianstatistics for the period from 1989 to 20142016 the studydocuments a 50 loss of population over this period While

data on migration are lacking the natural growth rate droppedfrom about5 to14 due to a combined decrease in thenumber of women of childbearing age (20ndash49 years of age) and

in the number of births by women in this age group Aging isreaching drastic levels especially in rural communities with

37 of the population in 2015 aged 65 and older Settlementsat higher altitudes are increasingly deserted Investment in

recreational economies based on local potentials such as hotsprings mountain tourism and local (labeled) productscoupled with the establishment of protected areas as lsquolsquoworking

landscapesrsquorsquo could help create local employment and reversecurrent negative population dynamics

Keywords Migration population loss demographic dynamics

Caucasus Georgia

Peer-reviewed August 2017 Accepted September 2017

Introduction

Many rural mountain areas across the world are facing anincreasing demographic challenge due to outmigrationlow fertility rates aging and ultimately depopulationThese processes are driven by the effects of globalizationindustrialization urbanization and changing lifestylessometimes combined with political marginalization andviolent conflicts (Wymann von Dach et al 2007) Howeverthe scope of these processes differs widely between andwithin mountain regions due to the site-specificdevelopment contexts created by economicsociopolitical and environmental circumstances Time isanother differentiating factor In Europe for exampleoutmigration and depopulation have affected many ruralmountain areas since the 19th century but an overviewanalysis of population changes in European mountainareas between 1991 and 2001 found a positive or stabletrend for this period in northern and central Europe Noclear pattern emerged in the Mediterranean region whilein Eastern Europe depopulation dominated due tooutmigration negative natural population growth orboth (EU 2004)

While population loss is a general trend in many ruralregions of Eastern Europe case studies suggest that ruralmountain areas are particularly hard hit by this loss Insoutheastern Europe for example Macedoniarsquosmountain population has declined by 50 since the1950s reducing the size of villages and ultimately theability of self-governance (Madzevic and Toshevska2016) For Bulgaria high depopulation rates in borderand mountains regions have been reported for theperiod since the end of World War II and especially since1985 (Mladenov and Ilieva 2012) A similar pictureappears in Romania judging from the situation in themountains of Apuseni where population peaked in 1941but has declined ever since with depopulation ratesaccelerating after the change of the political regime in1990 This decline was accompanied by a downwardmovement of population from higher to lower altitudesand by increasing outmigration (Plaias et al 2016 Telbiszet al 2016) Similar dynamics exist in the CarpathianMountains of Ukraine Slovakia and Poland In theUkrainian Carpathians depopulation became dominantafter the demise of the Soviet Union and with theensuing transition process (Kuemmerle et al 2008

Mountain Research and Development (MRD)An international peer-reviewed open access journalpublished by the International Mountain Society (IMS)wwwmrd-journalorg

MountainResearchSystems knowledge

415Mountain Research and Development Vol 37 No 4 Nov 2017 415ndash424 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-000641

Angelstam et al 2013 Warchalska-Troll and Troll 2014)Depopulation coupled with land abandonment andforest encroachment is also documented for Slovakiarsquoscentral and eastern mountains Polana and BukovskeVrchy (Chovankova and Mladek 2002 Meessen et al 2015Solar et al 2016) as well as for parts of the Polish side ofthe Carpathians (Kozak et al 2007) Farther to the eastevidence of depopulation has been provided for theCaucasus including detailed demographic analysescomparing mountains and lowlands in North Ossetia-Alania (Gracheva et al 2012) and a general regionaloverview across the Caucasus (Radvanyi and Muduyew2007)

This general overview reports particularly highpopulation losses for the mountains of Georgia since thelate 1980s as compared to the North Caucasus whichforms part of the Russian Federation Georgia was hithardest among all former Soviet Republics and EasternEuropean countries by the demise of the Soviet Union(Salukvadze and Meladze 2014) The demise confrontedthe country with an abrupt rupture of close economiclinks with its main trading partners This led to an almostcomplete breakdown of industry and large-scaleagriculture high rates of unemployment and exorbitantinflation The economic crisis was exacerbated by civiltensions political unrest across the country and openconflict with Russia over the 2 regions of Abkhazia andSouth Ossetia

The present study expands evidence on depopulationand demography in the mountains of Georgia byproviding detailed information about population lossover time and space We focus on the period from 1989to 20142016 and on the municipality of Oni in the Racharegion on the southern slopes of the Central (Greater)Caucasus Demographic developments in Onimunicipality and the Racha region during this period aretypical of the developments witnessed throughout theCentral Caucasus in Georgia Racha is divided into 2municipalities Ambrolauri situated at intermediatealtitudes and Oni which reaches up to the highest peaksof the Central Caucasus It is bordered by Russia in thenorth and east and by the Tskhinvali region (SouthOssetia) occupied by Russia in the southeast Onimunicipality covers an area of about 1300 km2 andranges from 600 to 4500 masl The region is highlydiverse in terms of relief climate soils and vegetation Itis known for its unique mineral waters hot springs andhealth resorts and has a high potential for thedevelopment of a recreational economy for which itonce was famous Its resources also include largeconiferous forests as well as streams and rivers forhydropower generation In addition new protected areasare planned across the region and the local people pintheir hopes on these for regional development(Elizbarashvili et al 2000)

Aims and methods

This paper aims to document population dynamicsincluding the drastic loss of population in the mountainareas of Georgia from just before the demise of the SovietUnion to the present (1989ndash20142016) Taking theexample of Oni municipality in Racha we illustrate thesedynamics by means of a series of demographic indicatorssuch as overall population figures birth and death ratesage and sex structure and related dependency ratios Wealso document the resulting altitudinal trend ofdepopulation in the area We define depopulation as theloss in the number of people in a defined territory andover a given period due to the dynamics of naturalpopulation growth (or decline) and the net effect ofmigration (in- and outmigration)

Our methods include a review of the relevantliterature from Georgia and other mountain areas Thestatistical material used comes from the National StatisticsOffice of Georgia (GEOSTAT) and includes data from 2national censuses (1989 and 2014) For the years inbetween we used current official registration dataavailable from GEOSTAT They are less reliable than thecensus data We used a geographic information system toprepare a map of the study area showing altitudinal zonesand the location of all settlements No fieldwork was donespecifically for this paper however the authors have beenfamiliar with the area for many years

Results

Overall population loss between 1989 and 2016

According to official data the total number of thepopulation of Oni municipality went through 2distinctively different phases between 1989 and 2016 Inthe first phase from 1989 to 1994 the populationincreased especially in the rural areas (Figure 1) despitethe negative natural growth in the same period (Table 1)and the emigration of the Jewish population since 1992The overall increase in this phase was thus due to in-migration because of the grave socioeconomic crisis inthe first half of the 1990s many Georgian townspeoplereturned to their rural homelands (Figure 2) Animportant reason for this move was the land reformwhich granted small-scale parcels to hundreds ofthousands of households (Salukvadze and Meladze 2014)providing them a basis for their livelihood This isconfirmed by the GEOSTAT data which show a decreaseof the urban and an increase of the rural populationbetween 1989 and 1994 The resettlement of refugeesduring the armed conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetiahad a minor effect as only about 400 people wereresettled to Oni municipality by 1994 (Gogelidze 2004)The major earthquake of 1991 did not cause anypopulation decline in the region either

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Overall the population of Oni municipality grew by20 between 1989 and 1994 This corresponds to anincrease of 2700 people and led to a total population of15000 in 1994 the maximum in our period of

observation From that year onward which marked thebeginning of the second phase the population declined toa mere 6000 people in 2016 The very marked decreasebetween 2013 and 2014 is a statistical artifact According

FIGURE 1 Population size of Oni municipality in 1989ndash2016 (in thousands)

FIGURE 2 View of the River Rioni in Oni municipality Georgia (Photo by N Elizbarashvili)

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to GEOSTAT the 2014 figures are more reliable OverallOni has lost 60 of its population since 1994 and 50since 1989 In the same period from 1989 to 2016 thepopulation of the entire country decreased by 31(GEOSTAT) The main reason for the increased

downward population trend in Oni municipality ascompared to the country as a whole is its peripherallocation poor general infrastructure and weak economicdiversification (Government of Georgia 2017) In additionthe summer and winter recreation economy largely

TABLE 1 Dynamics of birth death and natural increase rates in Oni municipality during 1989ndash2015a)

Years

Crude birth rate () Crude death rate ()

Natural increase

crude rate ()

Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald)

1989 118 147 97 173 106 222 54 41 125

1990 144 224 94 186 139 216 42 84 122

1991 101 153 69 217 159 252 116 06 182

1992 107 198 57 233 204 249 125 06 191

1994e) 66 132 32 162 122 183 97 10 151

1995 85 175 40 175 156 184 90 19 144

1996 63 155 18 73 49 84 10 106 66

1997 54 128 21 81 51 95 26 77 74

1998 53 125 22 177 190 171 124 65 149

1999 46 97 25 204 322 153 158 225 128

2000 51 100 29 217 303 175 165 203 146

2001 55 97 34 236 372 166 181 275 133

2002 51 89 30 209 354 130 158 265 100

2003 46 81 27 225 444 107 179 363 80

2004 60 51 66 239 498 98 179 448 33

2005 74 106 57 138 242 83 64 135 26

2006 53 103 24 171 203 155 118 100 131

2007 62 106 37 168 194 154 106 88 117

2008 80 131 52 177 207 160 97 76 108

2009 113 184 74 213 252 191 100 69 117

2010 94 143 67 226 160 262 132 17 195

2011 84 93 79 214 173 237 130 80 158

2012 72 80 67 213 130 260 141 50 193

2013 63 97 48 184 113 225 119 17 177

2014 77 97 66 218 190 235 141 93 169

2015 80 112 58 217 200 228 137 88 170

a) Source Calculated by the authors based on GEOSTAT datab) Oni municipalityc) Urban populationd) Rural populatione) 1993 data not available

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dependent on visitors from Russia collapsed due to theclosure of the border and the loss of the direct road linkbetween Russia and Oni in 2005

Birth rates death rates and natural population growth

between 1989 and 2015

Death rates were higher than birth rates in all years withthe exception of the urban areas in the 1990s Overall thebalance between birth and death rates resulted in anegative natural population growth in every single year ofthe observation period (1989ndash2015) (Table 1)

The drastic decline in the number of newbornshighlights the severity of the demographic situation inOni municipality The absolute number of newbornsdecreased by a factor of 22 between 1989 and 2005 owingto the combined effects of outmigration and a decliningbirth rate The birth rate in Oni municipality (Table 1)was highest in 1990 when it stood at 144 close to thecritical limit of reproduction (15) but then itplummeted to values between 4 and 6 It was onlyafter 2008 that birth rates recovered but they neverreached the level of the early 1990s

It should be noted that birth rates were always higherin the urban than in the rural areas of the municipalitywith the exception of 2004 The very low rates recorded inthe rural areas from 1996 to 2003 were due to the difficultsocioeconomic and political situation in the regionmentioned above which affected villages more thantowns where minimal basic infrastructure and serviceswere kept up better moreover village populations had ahigher share of older people After 2003 the situationimproved to some extent and rural birth rates increasedfrom 27 in 2003 to 58 in 2015 But this is still farbelow the 1989 rate of 97 for the rural areas andclearly below the 2015 urban rate of 11 2 The declineof birth rates over the observation period was also a resultof the decreasing childndashwoman ratio This ratio indicatesthe number of children aged 0ndash9 in relation to thenumber of women aged 20ndash49 In 1989 it was alreadylower in Oni municipality than at the national level (694as compared to 789) By 2014 the childndashwoman ratio inOni municipality decreased by 23 (Supplemental materialFigure S1 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1)

Death rates in Oni municipality were among thehighest in Georgia Between 1989 and 2015 themunicipalityrsquos death rate rose by 25 reaching 217 in2015 (Table 1) whereas the national death rate in 2015was 132 From 1990 to 1997 and again after 2010 deathrates in the municipalityrsquos urban areas were lower than inthe rural areas In between from 1998 to 2009 andespecially between 1999 and 2004 we find an inversepicture with death rates drastically higher in towns andremarkably low rates in the rural areas However thisanomaly does not reflect demographic change but rather

is due to inaccurate data The problem lies in howdeceased people were recorded due to precarioussocioeconomic conditions especially in the rural areasmany families could not afford to pay the sum requiredfor obtaining a death certificate from the issuing medicalinstitution Without such a document the deceased werenot registered and hence not included in official statistics(Tsuladze et al 2002 Meladze 2004) This may also havecontributed to the sudden lsquolsquolossrsquorsquo of population between2013 and 2014 (Figure 1)

The deep crisis in the 1990s and around the turn of themillennium also affected the statistical offices directly(Meladze and Tsuladze 1997 Gugushvili 1998 Meladze2004) After the 2002 census when the general situation inthe country had improved GEOSTAT had to recalculatecritical data sets including those on the naturalmovement of the population (DSMEDG 2015) Still birthrates in some of the critical years may be higher than therecalculated onesmdasha hypothesis that would requirefurther investigation

However Georgia is not alone in facing accuracyproblems in demographic data Radvanyi and Muduyev(2007) report an abrupt surge in the mountain populationof certain regions in the North Caucasus (DagestanKarachayevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria) at thetime of the 2002 census of the Russian Federation in thiscase suspected to be the result of deliberatemanipulations in search of increasing federal financialtransfers

Age and sex structure and dependency ratios

Negative natural population growth has an impact on theage structure of the population In the period between1989 and 2014 the number of children and youth underthe age of 15 decreased dramatically in both absolute andrelative terms that is by 684 (Table 2) The same is truefor the group aged 15ndash64 the working-age group whosenumber declined by 55 The group aged 65 and abovedeclined by 30 which is quite substantial too butnonetheless much lower than the relative decline in theother 2 groups This means that the relative shares of the 3age groups in the overall population changed markedlybetween 1989 and 2014 The share of children and youthdropped from 175 to 115 and that of the working-age population from 62 to 58 whereas the share ofelderly people increased from 20 to over 30 across theentire municipality and up to as high as 37 in the ruralareas At the national level the old age group accountedfor 14 of the population in 2014 by contrast in Europeit accounted for 17 in 2015 (UN-ECOSOC 2015 WanHe et al 2016) The higher figure in Europe is also due tohigher life expectancy there The UN 3-step populationaging scale considers a nation to be demographically agedif the share of people aged 65 and older in the totalpopulation is greater than 7 (Kausler et al 2007)

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Overall the population of Oni municipality grew by20 between 1989 and 1994 This corresponds to anincrease of 2700 people and led to a total population of15000 in 1994 the maximum in our period of

observation From that year onward which marked thebeginning of the second phase the population declined toa mere 6000 people in 2016 The very marked decreasebetween 2013 and 2014 is a statistical artifact According

FIGURE 1 Population size of Oni municipality in 1989ndash2016 (in thousands)

FIGURE 2 View of the River Rioni in Oni municipality Georgia (Photo by N Elizbarashvili)

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to GEOSTAT the 2014 figures are more reliable OverallOni has lost 60 of its population since 1994 and 50since 1989 In the same period from 1989 to 2016 thepopulation of the entire country decreased by 31(GEOSTAT) The main reason for the increased

downward population trend in Oni municipality ascompared to the country as a whole is its peripherallocation poor general infrastructure and weak economicdiversification (Government of Georgia 2017) In additionthe summer and winter recreation economy largely

TABLE 1 Dynamics of birth death and natural increase rates in Oni municipality during 1989ndash2015a)

Years

Crude birth rate () Crude death rate ()

Natural increase

crude rate ()

Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald)

1989 118 147 97 173 106 222 54 41 125

1990 144 224 94 186 139 216 42 84 122

1991 101 153 69 217 159 252 116 06 182

1992 107 198 57 233 204 249 125 06 191

1994e) 66 132 32 162 122 183 97 10 151

1995 85 175 40 175 156 184 90 19 144

1996 63 155 18 73 49 84 10 106 66

1997 54 128 21 81 51 95 26 77 74

1998 53 125 22 177 190 171 124 65 149

1999 46 97 25 204 322 153 158 225 128

2000 51 100 29 217 303 175 165 203 146

2001 55 97 34 236 372 166 181 275 133

2002 51 89 30 209 354 130 158 265 100

2003 46 81 27 225 444 107 179 363 80

2004 60 51 66 239 498 98 179 448 33

2005 74 106 57 138 242 83 64 135 26

2006 53 103 24 171 203 155 118 100 131

2007 62 106 37 168 194 154 106 88 117

2008 80 131 52 177 207 160 97 76 108

2009 113 184 74 213 252 191 100 69 117

2010 94 143 67 226 160 262 132 17 195

2011 84 93 79 214 173 237 130 80 158

2012 72 80 67 213 130 260 141 50 193

2013 63 97 48 184 113 225 119 17 177

2014 77 97 66 218 190 235 141 93 169

2015 80 112 58 217 200 228 137 88 170

a) Source Calculated by the authors based on GEOSTAT datab) Oni municipalityc) Urban populationd) Rural populatione) 1993 data not available

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dependent on visitors from Russia collapsed due to theclosure of the border and the loss of the direct road linkbetween Russia and Oni in 2005

Birth rates death rates and natural population growth

between 1989 and 2015

Death rates were higher than birth rates in all years withthe exception of the urban areas in the 1990s Overall thebalance between birth and death rates resulted in anegative natural population growth in every single year ofthe observation period (1989ndash2015) (Table 1)

The drastic decline in the number of newbornshighlights the severity of the demographic situation inOni municipality The absolute number of newbornsdecreased by a factor of 22 between 1989 and 2005 owingto the combined effects of outmigration and a decliningbirth rate The birth rate in Oni municipality (Table 1)was highest in 1990 when it stood at 144 close to thecritical limit of reproduction (15) but then itplummeted to values between 4 and 6 It was onlyafter 2008 that birth rates recovered but they neverreached the level of the early 1990s

It should be noted that birth rates were always higherin the urban than in the rural areas of the municipalitywith the exception of 2004 The very low rates recorded inthe rural areas from 1996 to 2003 were due to the difficultsocioeconomic and political situation in the regionmentioned above which affected villages more thantowns where minimal basic infrastructure and serviceswere kept up better moreover village populations had ahigher share of older people After 2003 the situationimproved to some extent and rural birth rates increasedfrom 27 in 2003 to 58 in 2015 But this is still farbelow the 1989 rate of 97 for the rural areas andclearly below the 2015 urban rate of 11 2 The declineof birth rates over the observation period was also a resultof the decreasing childndashwoman ratio This ratio indicatesthe number of children aged 0ndash9 in relation to thenumber of women aged 20ndash49 In 1989 it was alreadylower in Oni municipality than at the national level (694as compared to 789) By 2014 the childndashwoman ratio inOni municipality decreased by 23 (Supplemental materialFigure S1 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1)

Death rates in Oni municipality were among thehighest in Georgia Between 1989 and 2015 themunicipalityrsquos death rate rose by 25 reaching 217 in2015 (Table 1) whereas the national death rate in 2015was 132 From 1990 to 1997 and again after 2010 deathrates in the municipalityrsquos urban areas were lower than inthe rural areas In between from 1998 to 2009 andespecially between 1999 and 2004 we find an inversepicture with death rates drastically higher in towns andremarkably low rates in the rural areas However thisanomaly does not reflect demographic change but rather

is due to inaccurate data The problem lies in howdeceased people were recorded due to precarioussocioeconomic conditions especially in the rural areasmany families could not afford to pay the sum requiredfor obtaining a death certificate from the issuing medicalinstitution Without such a document the deceased werenot registered and hence not included in official statistics(Tsuladze et al 2002 Meladze 2004) This may also havecontributed to the sudden lsquolsquolossrsquorsquo of population between2013 and 2014 (Figure 1)

The deep crisis in the 1990s and around the turn of themillennium also affected the statistical offices directly(Meladze and Tsuladze 1997 Gugushvili 1998 Meladze2004) After the 2002 census when the general situation inthe country had improved GEOSTAT had to recalculatecritical data sets including those on the naturalmovement of the population (DSMEDG 2015) Still birthrates in some of the critical years may be higher than therecalculated onesmdasha hypothesis that would requirefurther investigation

However Georgia is not alone in facing accuracyproblems in demographic data Radvanyi and Muduyev(2007) report an abrupt surge in the mountain populationof certain regions in the North Caucasus (DagestanKarachayevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria) at thetime of the 2002 census of the Russian Federation in thiscase suspected to be the result of deliberatemanipulations in search of increasing federal financialtransfers

Age and sex structure and dependency ratios

Negative natural population growth has an impact on theage structure of the population In the period between1989 and 2014 the number of children and youth underthe age of 15 decreased dramatically in both absolute andrelative terms that is by 684 (Table 2) The same is truefor the group aged 15ndash64 the working-age group whosenumber declined by 55 The group aged 65 and abovedeclined by 30 which is quite substantial too butnonetheless much lower than the relative decline in theother 2 groups This means that the relative shares of the 3age groups in the overall population changed markedlybetween 1989 and 2014 The share of children and youthdropped from 175 to 115 and that of the working-age population from 62 to 58 whereas the share ofelderly people increased from 20 to over 30 across theentire municipality and up to as high as 37 in the ruralareas At the national level the old age group accountedfor 14 of the population in 2014 by contrast in Europeit accounted for 17 in 2015 (UN-ECOSOC 2015 WanHe et al 2016) The higher figure in Europe is also due tohigher life expectancy there The UN 3-step populationaging scale considers a nation to be demographically agedif the share of people aged 65 and older in the totalpopulation is greater than 7 (Kausler et al 2007)

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to GEOSTAT the 2014 figures are more reliable OverallOni has lost 60 of its population since 1994 and 50since 1989 In the same period from 1989 to 2016 thepopulation of the entire country decreased by 31(GEOSTAT) The main reason for the increased

downward population trend in Oni municipality ascompared to the country as a whole is its peripherallocation poor general infrastructure and weak economicdiversification (Government of Georgia 2017) In additionthe summer and winter recreation economy largely

TABLE 1 Dynamics of birth death and natural increase rates in Oni municipality during 1989ndash2015a)

Years

Crude birth rate () Crude death rate ()

Natural increase

crude rate ()

Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald)

1989 118 147 97 173 106 222 54 41 125

1990 144 224 94 186 139 216 42 84 122

1991 101 153 69 217 159 252 116 06 182

1992 107 198 57 233 204 249 125 06 191

1994e) 66 132 32 162 122 183 97 10 151

1995 85 175 40 175 156 184 90 19 144

1996 63 155 18 73 49 84 10 106 66

1997 54 128 21 81 51 95 26 77 74

1998 53 125 22 177 190 171 124 65 149

1999 46 97 25 204 322 153 158 225 128

2000 51 100 29 217 303 175 165 203 146

2001 55 97 34 236 372 166 181 275 133

2002 51 89 30 209 354 130 158 265 100

2003 46 81 27 225 444 107 179 363 80

2004 60 51 66 239 498 98 179 448 33

2005 74 106 57 138 242 83 64 135 26

2006 53 103 24 171 203 155 118 100 131

2007 62 106 37 168 194 154 106 88 117

2008 80 131 52 177 207 160 97 76 108

2009 113 184 74 213 252 191 100 69 117

2010 94 143 67 226 160 262 132 17 195

2011 84 93 79 214 173 237 130 80 158

2012 72 80 67 213 130 260 141 50 193

2013 63 97 48 184 113 225 119 17 177

2014 77 97 66 218 190 235 141 93 169

2015 80 112 58 217 200 228 137 88 170

a) Source Calculated by the authors based on GEOSTAT datab) Oni municipalityc) Urban populationd) Rural populatione) 1993 data not available

418Mountain Research and Development httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-000641

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dependent on visitors from Russia collapsed due to theclosure of the border and the loss of the direct road linkbetween Russia and Oni in 2005

Birth rates death rates and natural population growth

between 1989 and 2015

Death rates were higher than birth rates in all years withthe exception of the urban areas in the 1990s Overall thebalance between birth and death rates resulted in anegative natural population growth in every single year ofthe observation period (1989ndash2015) (Table 1)

The drastic decline in the number of newbornshighlights the severity of the demographic situation inOni municipality The absolute number of newbornsdecreased by a factor of 22 between 1989 and 2005 owingto the combined effects of outmigration and a decliningbirth rate The birth rate in Oni municipality (Table 1)was highest in 1990 when it stood at 144 close to thecritical limit of reproduction (15) but then itplummeted to values between 4 and 6 It was onlyafter 2008 that birth rates recovered but they neverreached the level of the early 1990s

It should be noted that birth rates were always higherin the urban than in the rural areas of the municipalitywith the exception of 2004 The very low rates recorded inthe rural areas from 1996 to 2003 were due to the difficultsocioeconomic and political situation in the regionmentioned above which affected villages more thantowns where minimal basic infrastructure and serviceswere kept up better moreover village populations had ahigher share of older people After 2003 the situationimproved to some extent and rural birth rates increasedfrom 27 in 2003 to 58 in 2015 But this is still farbelow the 1989 rate of 97 for the rural areas andclearly below the 2015 urban rate of 11 2 The declineof birth rates over the observation period was also a resultof the decreasing childndashwoman ratio This ratio indicatesthe number of children aged 0ndash9 in relation to thenumber of women aged 20ndash49 In 1989 it was alreadylower in Oni municipality than at the national level (694as compared to 789) By 2014 the childndashwoman ratio inOni municipality decreased by 23 (Supplemental materialFigure S1 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1)

Death rates in Oni municipality were among thehighest in Georgia Between 1989 and 2015 themunicipalityrsquos death rate rose by 25 reaching 217 in2015 (Table 1) whereas the national death rate in 2015was 132 From 1990 to 1997 and again after 2010 deathrates in the municipalityrsquos urban areas were lower than inthe rural areas In between from 1998 to 2009 andespecially between 1999 and 2004 we find an inversepicture with death rates drastically higher in towns andremarkably low rates in the rural areas However thisanomaly does not reflect demographic change but rather

is due to inaccurate data The problem lies in howdeceased people were recorded due to precarioussocioeconomic conditions especially in the rural areasmany families could not afford to pay the sum requiredfor obtaining a death certificate from the issuing medicalinstitution Without such a document the deceased werenot registered and hence not included in official statistics(Tsuladze et al 2002 Meladze 2004) This may also havecontributed to the sudden lsquolsquolossrsquorsquo of population between2013 and 2014 (Figure 1)

The deep crisis in the 1990s and around the turn of themillennium also affected the statistical offices directly(Meladze and Tsuladze 1997 Gugushvili 1998 Meladze2004) After the 2002 census when the general situation inthe country had improved GEOSTAT had to recalculatecritical data sets including those on the naturalmovement of the population (DSMEDG 2015) Still birthrates in some of the critical years may be higher than therecalculated onesmdasha hypothesis that would requirefurther investigation

However Georgia is not alone in facing accuracyproblems in demographic data Radvanyi and Muduyev(2007) report an abrupt surge in the mountain populationof certain regions in the North Caucasus (DagestanKarachayevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria) at thetime of the 2002 census of the Russian Federation in thiscase suspected to be the result of deliberatemanipulations in search of increasing federal financialtransfers

Age and sex structure and dependency ratios

Negative natural population growth has an impact on theage structure of the population In the period between1989 and 2014 the number of children and youth underthe age of 15 decreased dramatically in both absolute andrelative terms that is by 684 (Table 2) The same is truefor the group aged 15ndash64 the working-age group whosenumber declined by 55 The group aged 65 and abovedeclined by 30 which is quite substantial too butnonetheless much lower than the relative decline in theother 2 groups This means that the relative shares of the 3age groups in the overall population changed markedlybetween 1989 and 2014 The share of children and youthdropped from 175 to 115 and that of the working-age population from 62 to 58 whereas the share ofelderly people increased from 20 to over 30 across theentire municipality and up to as high as 37 in the ruralareas At the national level the old age group accountedfor 14 of the population in 2014 by contrast in Europeit accounted for 17 in 2015 (UN-ECOSOC 2015 WanHe et al 2016) The higher figure in Europe is also due tohigher life expectancy there The UN 3-step populationaging scale considers a nation to be demographically agedif the share of people aged 65 and older in the totalpopulation is greater than 7 (Kausler et al 2007)

419Mountain Research and Development httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-000641

MountainResearch

dependent on visitors from Russia collapsed due to theclosure of the border and the loss of the direct road linkbetween Russia and Oni in 2005

Birth rates death rates and natural population growth

between 1989 and 2015

Death rates were higher than birth rates in all years withthe exception of the urban areas in the 1990s Overall thebalance between birth and death rates resulted in anegative natural population growth in every single year ofthe observation period (1989ndash2015) (Table 1)

The drastic decline in the number of newbornshighlights the severity of the demographic situation inOni municipality The absolute number of newbornsdecreased by a factor of 22 between 1989 and 2005 owingto the combined effects of outmigration and a decliningbirth rate The birth rate in Oni municipality (Table 1)was highest in 1990 when it stood at 144 close to thecritical limit of reproduction (15) but then itplummeted to values between 4 and 6 It was onlyafter 2008 that birth rates recovered but they neverreached the level of the early 1990s

It should be noted that birth rates were always higherin the urban than in the rural areas of the municipalitywith the exception of 2004 The very low rates recorded inthe rural areas from 1996 to 2003 were due to the difficultsocioeconomic and political situation in the regionmentioned above which affected villages more thantowns where minimal basic infrastructure and serviceswere kept up better moreover village populations had ahigher share of older people After 2003 the situationimproved to some extent and rural birth rates increasedfrom 27 in 2003 to 58 in 2015 But this is still farbelow the 1989 rate of 97 for the rural areas andclearly below the 2015 urban rate of 11 2 The declineof birth rates over the observation period was also a resultof the decreasing childndashwoman ratio This ratio indicatesthe number of children aged 0ndash9 in relation to thenumber of women aged 20ndash49 In 1989 it was alreadylower in Oni municipality than at the national level (694as compared to 789) By 2014 the childndashwoman ratio inOni municipality decreased by 23 (Supplemental materialFigure S1 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1)

Death rates in Oni municipality were among thehighest in Georgia Between 1989 and 2015 themunicipalityrsquos death rate rose by 25 reaching 217 in2015 (Table 1) whereas the national death rate in 2015was 132 From 1990 to 1997 and again after 2010 deathrates in the municipalityrsquos urban areas were lower than inthe rural areas In between from 1998 to 2009 andespecially between 1999 and 2004 we find an inversepicture with death rates drastically higher in towns andremarkably low rates in the rural areas However thisanomaly does not reflect demographic change but rather

is due to inaccurate data The problem lies in howdeceased people were recorded due to precarioussocioeconomic conditions especially in the rural areasmany families could not afford to pay the sum requiredfor obtaining a death certificate from the issuing medicalinstitution Without such a document the deceased werenot registered and hence not included in official statistics(Tsuladze et al 2002 Meladze 2004) This may also havecontributed to the sudden lsquolsquolossrsquorsquo of population between2013 and 2014 (Figure 1)

The deep crisis in the 1990s and around the turn of themillennium also affected the statistical offices directly(Meladze and Tsuladze 1997 Gugushvili 1998 Meladze2004) After the 2002 census when the general situation inthe country had improved GEOSTAT had to recalculatecritical data sets including those on the naturalmovement of the population (DSMEDG 2015) Still birthrates in some of the critical years may be higher than therecalculated onesmdasha hypothesis that would requirefurther investigation

However Georgia is not alone in facing accuracyproblems in demographic data Radvanyi and Muduyev(2007) report an abrupt surge in the mountain populationof certain regions in the North Caucasus (DagestanKarachayevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria) at thetime of the 2002 census of the Russian Federation in thiscase suspected to be the result of deliberatemanipulations in search of increasing federal financialtransfers

Age and sex structure and dependency ratios

Negative natural population growth has an impact on theage structure of the population In the period between1989 and 2014 the number of children and youth underthe age of 15 decreased dramatically in both absolute andrelative terms that is by 684 (Table 2) The same is truefor the group aged 15ndash64 the working-age group whosenumber declined by 55 The group aged 65 and abovedeclined by 30 which is quite substantial too butnonetheless much lower than the relative decline in theother 2 groups This means that the relative shares of the 3age groups in the overall population changed markedlybetween 1989 and 2014 The share of children and youthdropped from 175 to 115 and that of the working-age population from 62 to 58 whereas the share ofelderly people increased from 20 to over 30 across theentire municipality and up to as high as 37 in the ruralareas At the national level the old age group accountedfor 14 of the population in 2014 by contrast in Europeit accounted for 17 in 2015 (UN-ECOSOC 2015 WanHe et al 2016) The higher figure in Europe is also due tohigher life expectancy there The UN 3-step populationaging scale considers a nation to be demographically agedif the share of people aged 65 and older in the totalpopulation is greater than 7 (Kausler et al 2007)

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Because of the changes in the age structure the mean ageof the population in Oni municipality rose from 433years in 1989 to 494 years in 2014 with a lower value of 44years in urban areas compared to 536 years in ruralareas The mean value for Georgia was again much lowerand stood at 381 years in 2014 (GEOSTAT)

The age and sex pyramids for Oni municipalityresemble a classical example of a declining population Acomparison of 1989 and 2014 for the rural versus urbanareas clearly shows the negative demographic changes inOni municipality in the 25-year period between the 2censuses (Supplemental material Figure S2 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1) What catchesthe eye first when examining the pyramids is the growingimbalance in the size and distribution of the male andfemale populations The ratio of women to men in thegroups aged 20ndash49 years of age is decreasing whereas it isincreasing in the older age groups Both observationsapply to the rural areas in particular This means thatyounger and middle-aged women are (forced to be) moremobile than men of the same age The same phenomenonwas found in countries of Eastern Europe for exampleSerbia (Nikitovic 2010) as well as in the North Caucasusfor example in North Ossetia where it was explained bythe role of men as caretakers of the parent generation(Gracheva et al 2012)

The changing age structure of the population is alsoreflected by the total dependency ratio which relates thenumber of dependents (aged 0ndash14 plus over 65) to thepopulation aged 15ndash64 According to the 2014 populationcensus this ratio was 714 dependents per 1000 people ofworking age in Oni In Georgia the same rate was 490(Supplemental material Figure S3 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1) The ratio wasparticularly high (847) in the rural areas The effects ofreduced fertility and emigration on age structure appearmost drastically if one sets the 65-plus-year age group indirect relationship with the below-15-year group Thisrelationship can be expressed by the population agingindex (old-to-young age dependency ratio) in the

municipality (Figure 3) In the period between the twocensuses the aging index more than doubled and reached261 in 2014 For the country as whole the value is muchlower Especially drastic was the index value in the ruralareas of the municipality In 2014 it stood at 298 meaningthat the rural population had 3 persons of old age for eachperson under the age of 15 (Figure 3) This figure isconsiderably higher than in other mountain areas thatexperience depopulation such as in Digoria in NorthOssetia (142 dependents) (Gracheva et al 2012) In theEuropean Alps ratios of up to 150 are found indepopulated communities in the southern Alps of Franceand Italy these are rated as very high (Tappeiner et al2008)

To sum up in a world that is aging rapidly (UN-ECOSOC 2015) Georgia belongs to the countriesfeaturing the second highest share of older people inglobal comparison (14ndash21) This category comprises theEuropean countries both east and west plus Canada andthe United States Australia and New Zealand The otherCaucasian countries and Russia have lower shares of oldpeople (Wan He et al 2016)

TABLE 2 Age structure of population in 1989 and 2014a)

Age group

Absolute number Percent

1989 2014 1989 2014

Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald) Onib) Urbanc) Rurald)

Under 15 2239 1270 969 708 410 298 175 232 132 115 154 86

15ndash64 7943 3665 4278 3577 1696 1881 620 669 583 584 639 541

65thorn 2633 547 2086 1845 550 1295 205 100 284 301 207 373

Total 12815 5482 7333 6130 2656 3474 100 100 100 100 100 100

a) Source GEOSTATb) Oni municipalityc) Urban populationd) Rural population

FIGURE 3 Aging index (old-to-young age dependency ratio) in Oni municipality

and in Georgia according to the censuses for 1989 and 2014

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Population dynamics by altitude

The loss of population documented above has a cleargeographical component expressed by a downhill trendof the population accompanied by a move toward thecentral valley the Racha Basin Table 3 and Figure 4 show

these movements very clearly using the example of therural settlements (villages) in the municipality Between1989 and 2014 the highest zone of settlement lost all itspopulation which was already marginal in 1989suggesting that depopulation here might reach back into

TABLE 3 Distribution of rural population in Oni municipality by altitudinal zones for 1989 and 2014a)

Geographical zone

Population Population change (6)

1989 2014 1989ndash2014

Absolute number Percent Absolute number Percent Absolute number Percent

Plains (0ndash799 masl) 454 62 241 69 213 469

Low-mountains (800ndash1199 masl) 4083 557 2080 599 2003 491

Middle mountains (1200ndash1800 masl) 2794 381 1153 332 1641 587

High mountains (1800 masl) 2 00 0 0 2 1000

Total 7333 100 3474 100 3859 526

a) Source Population and Settlements of Georgia 1991 Kekelia et al 2002 calculations by the authors based on GEOSTAT data

FIGURE 4 Map of Oni municipality with elevational zones location of villages and village population loss between 1989 and 2014 (Source GEOSTAT data

prepared by Nodar Elizbarashvili and Giorgi Meladze based on GEOSTAT map prepared by Davit Svanadze Tbilisi State University)

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Soviet (or even earlier) times The middle mountain zonelost a larger share of its population (587) than the lowmountain zone (491) however absolute losses werehigher in the low zone which continued to hold thelargest population of the municipality close to 60 Thisis 4 more by comparison with 1989 which illustrates thedownward movement The lowest (plain) zone the RachaBasin lost 469 of its population

Population loss is also visible in the size of the villagesWhile the total number of villages remained practicallyconstant over our observation period (only 5 out of 65villages disappeared see Figure 5) there was a significantshift in village categories as defined by their populationsize (Supplemental material Table S1 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1) Today there are nolarge villages anymore the 2 villages found in thiscategory in 1989 now belong to the middle-sized villagesIn addition the other village size categories occur lessoften and have lost about half of the population percategory The exception is the category of the smallestvillages which have almost doubled in number and overallpopulation The specific weight of the rural inhabitants inthe villages of this category increased by 48 from 1989to 2014 The growing share of the population living inincreasingly smaller villages presents a challenge for theprovision of critical services such as health careschoolingeducation transport and provision of goods tocover daily needs for example food

Discussion and conclusion

Many rural mountain areas across the world have beenfacing depopulation Depopulation was particularlywidespread in the post-Soviet socialist space includingGeorgia The case presented in this papermdashOnimunicipality in the Racha regionmdashis a typical example ofdepopulation in the mountains of Georgia (Governmentof Georgia 2017) since the demise of the Soviet UnionOni lost more than 50 of its inhabitants between 1989and 201416 that is within one generation What remains

unknown is population dynamics before 1989Depopulation may be much older as documented forNorth Ossetia where it reached back at least to the 1880shence to Tsarist times (Gracheva et al 2012)

In Oni municipality depopulation since 1989 has beendriven by the difficult socioeconomic and politicalsituation in the country during the transition from aplanned to a market economy accompanied by years ofunrest in the early 1990s which led to political andeconomic disruption and decay of infrastructureProblems were exacerbated in 2008 by the war over SouthOssetia a region neighboring Oni

Depopulation is the combined effect of outmigrationand negative natural growth due to a marked reduction ofthe birth rate Moreover the number of children perwoman has gone down as has the number of women inthe childbearing age group (20ndash49 years) especially inrural areas Women thus appear to be more mobile orforced to be more mobile than men in this age group

Population aging has advanced strongly It isparticularly incisive in depopulated areas as the numberof the active population may fall below a criticalthreshold In Oni the situation is dramatic in rural areaswhere 373 of the population are in the old age group(65 years and over) This is an extremely high value ininternational comparison The remaining populationconcentrates at lower altitudes a downward move alsonoticed elsewhere in the mountain world

Depopulation and aging have repercussions beyonddemography Aging is likely to curtail the local potentialfor innovation and development as elderly people areoverall less active than the younger ones (UN-ECOSOC2015) Depopulation also presents a challenge foreffective provision of services as villages get smaller andsmaller but not less in number There will be a need toincrease medical and social care which will lead to anincrease in costs while public finance (tax receipts) willdecline as less people will be economically active Inaddition land abandonment may become an issue or isalready one similar to many mountain areas in Europeand increasingly also in developing countries (eg forNepal see Jaquet et al 2015) Forest encroachment willgradually replace the typical traditional patchwork offorests and open grazing lands and meadows and thusreduce landscape diversity and biodiversity (Steuroocklin etal 2007)

To stop the downward population trend creation ofemployment within reachable distance is necessary Thiswill help keep younger people in the region and may raisebirth rates Wherever possible intervention should rely onthe regional resource potential which includes mineralwaters hot springs a healthy climate and variedmountain landscapes inviting investment in arecreational economy A special taxation regime could bea lever to stimulate the local economy The GeorgianMountain Law for example adopted by Parliament in

FIGURE 5 Abandoned house in the village of Gona in the high-elevation

mountainous zone This remote village was completely abandoned already in

1989 see Figure 4 for its location (Photo by G Dvalashvili)

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Soviet (or even earlier) times The middle mountain zonelost a larger share of its population (587) than the lowmountain zone (491) however absolute losses werehigher in the low zone which continued to hold thelargest population of the municipality close to 60 Thisis 4 more by comparison with 1989 which illustrates thedownward movement The lowest (plain) zone the RachaBasin lost 469 of its population

Population loss is also visible in the size of the villagesWhile the total number of villages remained practicallyconstant over our observation period (only 5 out of 65villages disappeared see Figure 5) there was a significantshift in village categories as defined by their populationsize (Supplemental material Table S1 httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1) Today there are nolarge villages anymore the 2 villages found in thiscategory in 1989 now belong to the middle-sized villagesIn addition the other village size categories occur lessoften and have lost about half of the population percategory The exception is the category of the smallestvillages which have almost doubled in number and overallpopulation The specific weight of the rural inhabitants inthe villages of this category increased by 48 from 1989to 2014 The growing share of the population living inincreasingly smaller villages presents a challenge for theprovision of critical services such as health careschoolingeducation transport and provision of goods tocover daily needs for example food

Discussion and conclusion

Many rural mountain areas across the world have beenfacing depopulation Depopulation was particularlywidespread in the post-Soviet socialist space includingGeorgia The case presented in this papermdashOnimunicipality in the Racha regionmdashis a typical example ofdepopulation in the mountains of Georgia (Governmentof Georgia 2017) since the demise of the Soviet UnionOni lost more than 50 of its inhabitants between 1989and 201416 that is within one generation What remains

unknown is population dynamics before 1989Depopulation may be much older as documented forNorth Ossetia where it reached back at least to the 1880shence to Tsarist times (Gracheva et al 2012)

In Oni municipality depopulation since 1989 has beendriven by the difficult socioeconomic and politicalsituation in the country during the transition from aplanned to a market economy accompanied by years ofunrest in the early 1990s which led to political andeconomic disruption and decay of infrastructureProblems were exacerbated in 2008 by the war over SouthOssetia a region neighboring Oni

Depopulation is the combined effect of outmigrationand negative natural growth due to a marked reduction ofthe birth rate Moreover the number of children perwoman has gone down as has the number of women inthe childbearing age group (20ndash49 years) especially inrural areas Women thus appear to be more mobile orforced to be more mobile than men in this age group

Population aging has advanced strongly It isparticularly incisive in depopulated areas as the numberof the active population may fall below a criticalthreshold In Oni the situation is dramatic in rural areaswhere 373 of the population are in the old age group(65 years and over) This is an extremely high value ininternational comparison The remaining populationconcentrates at lower altitudes a downward move alsonoticed elsewhere in the mountain world

Depopulation and aging have repercussions beyonddemography Aging is likely to curtail the local potentialfor innovation and development as elderly people areoverall less active than the younger ones (UN-ECOSOC2015) Depopulation also presents a challenge foreffective provision of services as villages get smaller andsmaller but not less in number There will be a need toincrease medical and social care which will lead to anincrease in costs while public finance (tax receipts) willdecline as less people will be economically active Inaddition land abandonment may become an issue or isalready one similar to many mountain areas in Europeand increasingly also in developing countries (eg forNepal see Jaquet et al 2015) Forest encroachment willgradually replace the typical traditional patchwork offorests and open grazing lands and meadows and thusreduce landscape diversity and biodiversity (Steuroocklin etal 2007)

To stop the downward population trend creation ofemployment within reachable distance is necessary Thiswill help keep younger people in the region and may raisebirth rates Wherever possible intervention should rely onthe regional resource potential which includes mineralwaters hot springs a healthy climate and variedmountain landscapes inviting investment in arecreational economy A special taxation regime could bea lever to stimulate the local economy The GeorgianMountain Law for example adopted by Parliament in

FIGURE 5 Abandoned house in the village of Gona in the high-elevation

mountainous zone This remote village was completely abandoned already in

1989 see Figure 4 for its location (Photo by G Dvalashvili)

422Mountain Research and Development httpdxdoiorg101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-000641

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2015 and entering into force in 2016 and 2017 foresees a3-year tax exemption for investments that promotesustainable local resource use and employment (UNDPGeorgia 2015) Moreover preparatory work is currentlyunder way for establishing national parks and protectedlandscapes While this will exclude large-scale investmentsin industry or tourism smaller and small-scale initiativesremain possible Evidence from across the world showsthat such initiatives have a positive effect on developmentin and around protected areas Prospective fields include

gastronomy and accommodation nature tourism(branded) local food products including medicinal plantsand small-scale industry (Hammer et al 2016) To allowsuch activities protection must go beyond classical natureconservation Protected areas must be designed asmultifunctional lsquolsquoliving or working landscapesrsquorsquo thatprovide instruments for local development includingeducation and skills training (Mose and Weixlbaumer2007) and promote the initiatives of local people

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to thank the MRD editorial team for language editing Wewould also like to thank 2 anonymous reviewers for their comments whichhelped to sharpen the focus of this paper and provide stronger evidence forsome of the assumptions made in the original version

R E F E R E N C E S

Angelstam P Elbakidze M Axelsson R Cupa P Halada L Molnar Z Patru-Stupariu I Perzanowski K Rozulowicz L Standovar T Svoboda M Tornblom J2013 Maintaining cultural and natural biodiversity in the Carpathianmountain ecoregion Need for an integrated landscape approach In Kozak JOstapowicz K Bytnerowicz A Wyzga B editors The Carpathians IntegratingNature and Society Towards Sustainability Environmental Science andEngineering Berlin and Heidelberg Germany Springer pp 393ndash424Chovankova J Mladek J 2002 Population In Landscape Atlas of the SlovakRepublic Bratislava Ministry of Environment and Slovak EnvironmentalAgency pp 150ndash170DSMEDG [Department for Statistics of the Ministry for Economic Developmentof Georgia] 2015 Demographic Overview of Georgia in 1990ndash2003 YearsTbilisi Georgia Department for Statistics of the Ministry for EconomicDevelopment of GeorgiaElizbarashvili N Matchavariani L Nikolaishvili D Sopadze G Meladze G2000 Geography of Georgia [in Georgian] Tbilisi Georgia Tbilisi StateUniversityEU [European Union] 2004 Mountain Areas in Europe Analysis of MountainAreas in EU Member States Acceding and Other European Countries Finalreport Stockholm Sweden Nordregio Nordic Centre for SpatialDevelopmentGEOSTAT [no year] National Statistics Office of Georgia [Data from variousyears] httpwwwgeostatge accessed on 15 November 2016Gogelidze D 2004 Dynamic of Population of Racha-Lechkhumi andKvemoSvaneti (1970ndash2002) Problems of Demography and Sociology [inGeorgian] Collected Papers II Tbilisi Georgia UniversalGovernment of Georgia 2017 Rural Development Strategy of Georgia 2017ndash2020 httpenpardgeenwp-contentuploads201505Rural-Development-Strategy-of-Georgia-2017-2020pdf accessed on 21 October2017Gracheva R Kohler T Stadelbauer J Meessen H 2012 Population dynamicschanges in land management and the future of mountain areas in northernCaucasus The example of North Ossetia Erdkunde 66(3)197ndash219Gugushvili T 1998 External Migration and Demographic Problems of Georgia [inGeorgian] Tbilisi Georgia PoligraphHammer T Mose I Siegrist D Weixlbaumer N editors 2016 Parks of theFuture Protected Areas in Europe Challenging Regional and Global ChangeMunich Germany OekomJaquet S Schwilch G Hartung-Hofmann F Adhikari A Sudmeyer-Rieux KShrestra G Liniger HP Kohler T 2015 Does outmigration lead to landdegradation Labour shortage and land management in a western Nepalwatershed Journal of Applied Geography 62157ndash170Kausler DH Kausler BC Krupsaw JA 2007 The Essential Guide to Aging in theTwenty-First Century Mind Body and Behavior Columbia Missouri and LondonUnited Kingdom University of Missouri PressKekelia J Ckhakaia T Khabazishvili M 2002 Territory of Georgia andSettlements (Cartometrical analysis) [in Georgian] Tbilisi GeorgiaIntelekt

Kozak J Estrequil C Troll M 2007 Forest cover change in the NorthernCarpathians in the 20th Century A slow transition Journal of Land Use Science22007(2)127ndash146Kuemmerle T Hostert P Radeloff V van der Linden S Perzanowski K KruhlovI 2008 Cross-border comparison of post-socialist farmland abandonment inthe Carpathians Ecosystems 2008(11)614ndash628Madzevic M Toshevska B 2016 Usage of the mountain areas in the Republicof Macedonia In Zhelezov G editor Sustainable Development in MountainRegions of South Eastern Europe 2nd edition Cham Switzerland Springer pp79ndash91Meessen H Svajda J Kohler T Fabriciusova V Galvanek D Bural M KacerovaM Kadlecik J 2015 Protected areas in the Slovak Carpathians as acontested resource between metropolisation and mountain stakeholdersJournal of Alpine Research 103(3)1ndash19Meladze G 2004 Problems of demographic statistics in Georgia in the periodafter independence Place et role statistiques de population en situationpost-coloniale International conference Paris 9ndash10 December 2004Unpublished available through the corresponding author of the present paperMeladze G Tsuladze G 1997 Population of Georgia and DemographicProcesses [in Georgian] Tbilisi Georgia PakoMladenov C Ilieva M 2012 The depopulation of the Bulgarian villages InSzymanska D Bieganska J editors Bulletin of Geography Socio-economicSeries No 17 Torun Poland Nicolaus Copernicus University Press pp 99ndash107Mose I Weixlbaumer N 2007 A new paradigm for protected areas in EuropeIn Mose I editor Protected Areas and Regional Development in Europe Towardsa New Model for the 21st Century AldershotHampshire and BurlingtonAshgate pp 3ndash19Nikitovic V 2010 Frozen demographic potentials of Serbia Paper presentedat Spatial Demography of the Balkans Trends and Challenges 4thInternational Conference of Balkan Demography Budva MontenegroUnpublished available through the corresponding author of the present paperPlaias I Scridon M Lacramioara R 2016 The population in the ApuseniMountains area Past present and perspectives (1900ndash2030) Revistaromana de sociologie 27(3ndash4)279ndash299Population and Settlements of Georgia 1991 Statistical reference (inGeorgian) Tbilisi Georgia Committee of Social and Economic Information ofGeorgiaRadvanyi J Muduyew S 2007 Challenges facing the mountain peoples of theCaucasus Eurasian Geography and Economics 48(2)157ndash177Salukvadze J Meladze G 2014 Migration a main risk towards sustainabledemographic future In Ereurooss A Karacsonyi D editors Discovering MigrationBetween Visegrad Countries and Eastern Partners Budapest Hungary HASRCAES Geographical Institute pp 150ndash169Solar J Janiga M Markuljakova K 2016 The socioeconomic andenvironmental effects of sustainable development in the Eastern Carpathiansand protecting its environment Polish Journal of Environmental Studies25(1)291ndash300Steuroocklin J Bosshard A Klaus G Rudmann-Maurer K Fischer M 2007Landnutzung und biologische Vielfalt in den AlpenmdashFakten Perspektiven

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MountainResearch

Empfehlungen Thematische Synthese zum Forschungsschwerpunkt II desNFP 48 Zurich Switzerland vdf HochschulverlagTappeiner U Borsdorf A Tasser E editors 2008 Alpenatlas Mapping theAlps SocietymdashEconomymdashEnvironment Heidelberg Germany SpektrumAkademischer VerlagTelbisz T Imecs Z Mari L Bottlik Z 2016 Changing human-environmentinteractions in medium mountains The Apuseni Mts (Romania) as a casestudy Journal of Mountain Science 13(9)1675ndash1687Tsuladze G Maglaperidze N Vadachkoria A 2002 Demographic Overview ofGeorgia (1960ndash2000) Tbilisi Georgia United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) Office in Georgia pp 70ndash77UNDP [United Nations Development Programme] Georgia 2015 Georgiaadopts a law on the development of mountainous regions 31 July 2015httpwwwgeundporgcontentgeorgiaenhomepresscenterpressreleases20150731georgia-adopts-a-law-on-the-development-of-mountainous-regions-html accessed on 27 October 2017UN-ECOSOC [United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs]2015 World Population Ageing STESASERA390 New York NY UN-ECOSOC Population DivisionWan He Goodkind D Kowal P 2016 An Ageing World US Census BureauInternational Population Reports P9516ndash1 Washington DC US GovernmentPublishing OfficeWarchalska-Troll A Troll M 2014 Summer livestock farming at thecrossroads in the Ukrainian Carpathians Mountain Research and Development34(4)344ndash355Wymann von Dach S Zimmermann A Hurni H 2007 Editorial [Focus IssueImpacts of Migration on Societies and Ecosystems] Mountain Research and

Development 27(2)103 httpsdoiorg1016590276-4741(2007)27[103E]20CO2

Supplemental material

FIGURE S1 Childndashwoman ratio in Oni municipality for1989 and 2014 according to the census (number of new-born to 9-year-old children per 1000 women aged 20ndash49)(Prepared by the authors based on GEOSTAT data)FIGURE S2 Agendashsex pyramids for 1989 and 2014 inpercent Oni municipality (Prepared by the authorsbased on GEOSTAT data)FIGURE S3 Total dependency ratio in Georgia and OniMunicipality in 2014 per 1000 persons (Prepared by theauthors based on GEOSTAT data)TABLE S1 Distribution of the rural population by sizeof villages in 1989 and 2014

All found at DOI 101659MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00064S1(326 KB PDF)

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