Breakaway Abkhazia launched on February 21 census of population, which more than halved since the armed conflict in early 90s.

Mainly teachers have been recruited as census-takers in the process, which is scheduled to last till February 28. Respondents are asked 16 questions from Russian-language questionnaires, including details about education, ethnic groups and employment, chairperson of the Abkhaz statistics office, Zoia Avidzba, was quoted by the Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress. She also said that persons who had been away for more than 12 months would not be included. It was not clear when the results would be announced.

According to the latest census, held in Abkhazia in 2003, about 214,000 people lived in the breakaway region. The figures, however, are source of controversy with various estimates ranging from 180,000 to 220,000.

Based on number of voters registered in Abkhazia for 2005 elections, the Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group suggested that population in Abkhazia was between 157,000 and 190,000.

According to the pre-war census held in 1989 population of the region was 525,061, including 239,872 ethnic Georgians (45.7%), 93,267 Abkhaz (17.8%), 76,541 ethnic Armenians (14.6%) and 74,914 ethnic Russians (14.3%).