10 November 2003 03:39
Over 3.5 million Russians are employers or live on dividends - Zorin
MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax) - The Russian population census of 2002 revealed the labor status of citizens for the first
time, and the results were rather unexpected, Minister of Nationalities Vladimir Zorin said at a press conference at the
Interfax main office on Monday.
One million people said they were employers. Another two million
said they were sole proprietors, 400,000 said they lived on stock
"58 million people [over 15 years old] said they were hired personnel. This makes up 95% of Russians,"
Zorin said.
dividends, and 200,000 said they lived on renting their property.
"Therefore, more than 3.5 million Russians have a new status in this country," Zorin said.
He said the census had shattered myths about the demographic situation in Russia.
"First of all, there are far fewer Chinese in the Far East than some specialists had estimated - only about
35,000, including 30,000 citizens of China," Zorin said. He also said there were about 620,000 Azerbaijanis in
Russia in contrast to the millions that some experts claimed.
"It also appeared that Russia is receiving migrants instead of being a source of migration to other
countries," the minister said.
He denied the idea that migrants in Russia were mostly involved in trade. He said that up to 70% of the foreign labor
force was employed in production and construction.
As for the high increase of Chechnya's population, which surprised many, the minister said the rate was nearly
equal to those in adjoining republics. "The population of Chechnya has recently increased by 1.5 times, while the
number of Ingushes has increased by 1.9 times and the number of Lezgins (Dagestan) has increased by 1.6 times,"
Zorin said. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG POL] te tj <>
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