SUKHUMI. Jan 8 (Interfax-AVN) -- Abkhazia will conduct its first census since the 1992-1993 armed conflict with Georgia in the first quarter of 2003, Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"Preparations for the census are underway at the moment," he said.
According to the previous census of 1989, over 500,000 people lived in Abkhazia at that time, "but the war has had its effects," Shamba said.
"Estimates say that about 340,000 people currently reside in Abkhazia, with over 80 per cent of the population having acquired Russian citizenship," he said.
Shamba emphasized that the census will also be conducted in the Gali district, which has a large ethnic Georgian population.
Asked about the attitude to the census among refugees who left Abkhazia as a result of the conflict, the minister said these are "inevitable factors resulting from warfare."