119 abandoned villages without a single inhabitant have been found in Udmurtia in the course of recent census of population.
      
      The number of villages with so-called zero population has gone 37 percent up from the last census, which was held in 2002. 301 more settlements are on the verge of extinction: no more than 10 people, mainly pensioners, live in every one of them. According to experts’ forecasts, almost 15 percents of villages in Udmurtia will soon cease to exist.
      
      In total about 30 percents of the population of Udmurtia live in the countryside. Thus, in rural areas the population is decreasing, while growing in cities. In the last 8 years, for example, the number of dwellers of Izhevsk has increased by 17 thousand and made more than 628 thousand persons.
      
      Source: itar-tass.com
Author: Vera Ivanova