CIS population approaching 280m

The population of the CIS amounted to 279m people at the beginning of 2004, the CIS statistics committee reported. The population density is from 5 to 10 people per square kilometer of area in Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan and up to about 95 to 126 in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova. Over 50 percent of the people in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan live in urban areas, while in Armenia, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine their share is over 60 percent. The share of people living in rural areas is almost 60 percent in Moldova and Turkmenistan, while in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan it is about 63 to 70 percent.

The number of employable people was 3.8m in Azerbaijan, 1.2m in Armenia, 4.5m in Belarus, 7.6m in Kazakhstan, 2m in Kyrgyzstan, 1.5m in Moldova, 71.4m in Russia, 1.9m in Tajikistan and 23.5m in Ukraine last year.