Azerbaijan’s Villages are Dying, Threatening Country’s Future Even Before Oil Runs Out, Mejlis Deputies Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 27 – Even though Baku officials insist that villagers form almost half of Azerbaijan’s population, the real situation is much worse with villages emptying out as residents leave for Baku to earn a living, even if they continue to be counted by the government as villagers, deputies in the country’s parliament say.

            The impact of the influx of villagers on Baku is obvious to everyone, Mejlis deputies say; but the consequences of the dying out of villages for the country is less so even though this negative trend is intensifying and threatening the ability of the country to feed itself (minval.az/news/124559785).

            The government says there are 4246 villages in the country, but in 129 of them, fewer than 50 people actually live, and in 20 to 30, the villages are now ghost towns because no one lives there. Young people have left and the older generation is dying out. If nothing is done, deputies, say, the country will face “the extinction of villages.”

            The emptying out of rural areas is a problem that many countries including those in the former Soviet space face, but it is a particular one where investment in agriculture lags and where a reduction in the population means a reduction in agricultural production and consequently higher prices and greater dependence on imports results.

            Azerbaijan is only beginning to focus on this issue as part of discussions about life in Azerbaijan “after oil,” the situation the country will face in three decades of so; but deputies are now saying that unless the problems of declining villages are faced, the crisis for Baku may occur far sooner than that.