In 2002, the country's population was 145,000, made up of 95% Armenians and 5% others. This composition represents a sharp change from the 1979 and 1989 census, when the Azerbaijani population was 23 and 21.5 percent, respectively. In March 2007, the local government announced that its population had grown to 138,000. The annual birth rate was recorded at 2,200–2,300 per year, an increase from nearly 1,500 in 1999.