Azeri population to grow 1.3% a year in 2014-2018

The Economist Intelligence Unit has said it forecasts annual average population growth of 1.3% in 2014-18. This compares favourably with growth trends in Russia, where the population is expected to contract by an average of around 0.27% annually over the same period. 

At 1.3%, annual average population growth in Azerbaijan in 2009-13 was significantly higher than Georgia (0.5%) or Armenia (unchanged over the period).

Azerbaijan's demographic outlook is more favourable than that of Russia.

After averaging 24.9 per 1,000 people in the 1990s, the birth rate has slowed to an average of around 18 per 1,000 in 2009-13. The population was estimated at 9.4m in 2013, up from 8.8m in 2008 and 7.3m in 1991. 

The decline in the population growth rate was attributable to a fall in the birth rate, between 1990 and 2005, from 27.3 to 13.8 per 1,000 population. The decrease was a reflection of an economic crisis in the early 1990s linked to the Nagorny Karabakh war and the transition to a market economy, which resulted in reduced state provision for education, health and unemployment benefits.

The death rate has fallen modestly from a post-Soviet high of 8.5 per 1,000 in 1995 to 6.8 per 1,000 in 2013, partly because of rising wealth and improved health outcomes.

Bakudaily.Az