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Population and Health:
5
The combination of high levels of pollution and a
deteriorating public health system causes concern
for the health of many living around the Caspian
Sea. Socio-political and economic changes in the
former Soviet countries are largely to blame.
Apart from two large urban areas –
Baku-Sumgait and Makhachkala-
Kaspiisk – and the Iranian coast on
the southern shore, a very densely
populated coastal strip where one
agglomeration leads into the next,
most of the population living on
the shores of the Caspian is rural,
with strong religious and family
traditions activelymaintained. It is
consequently not surprising that
several countries and provinces
– Iran, Daghestan, Turkmenistan
and parts of Azerbaijan – still en-
joy very high population growth
rates (in excess of 10 per 1,000).
Even if over the last two decades,
or perhaps longer, the fertility rate
has dropped significantly, the au-
thorities nevertheless have to cope
with all the health, education and
employment problems associated
with a rapidly rising, youthful
population.
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