General Director of the Institute of Geography named after acad. H.A. Aliyev of ANAS, D.Sc. Zakir Eminov took part in the republican scientific-practical conference "Geographic problems of sustainable development in the liberated territories of the Azerbaijan Republic", held at the Baku State University.

Speaking about the main directions of demographic development and regulation of Karabakh, the scientist said that according to the adopted economic zoning, the liberated territories are divided into Karabakh and East Zangezur economic regions. The economic difficulties of the early 21st century, the steady decline in natural growth and the intensification of migration also had a negative impact on population growth. In the first decade, the population of the Karabakh

economic region grew more slowly than the national average, so the share of administrative regions has significantly decreased. The rate of natural increase, which is one of the important demographic indicators, changes over a short period of time under the influence of socio-economic, socio-political and other demographic indicators. These processes significantly affect the growth of the population, and after a while it influences on the formation of the labor force.

In 1990, the natural increase per 1000 people in Karabakh was 20.1, and in East Zangezur - 19.9. This is higher than the national average. In 1990, 13.5 thousand children were born in Karabakh, the natural increase was 10.6 thousand. The number of children born in East Zangezur, respectively, amounted to 5.9 thousand, and the natural increase - 4.5 thousand.

Thus, over the years of independence, the birth rate and natural increase in the registered population of the liberated territories have steadily increased. This process lasted until 2015-2016. Due to the predominance of the rural population, its number was higher than the national average. In recent years, its numbers have been declining.