Minjavan-e Gharbi Rural District
History
In the wake of White Revolution (early 1960s) many clans of Mohammad Khanlu Tribe used the north part of the district as their winter quarters. The tribe's summer quarters were located in the mountains of the southern part, which include prime pastures. The district's population was in steady decline since the launch of land reform policies in the early 1960s. By 2000 some villages, for instance Garmanab, were already abandoned. Some expatriates, working as painters in Tehran, returned and built summer residences. At present the district is witnessing an unprecedented construction boom, a fact that can be easily noticed by comparing the included photos, both taken from Abbasabad respectively in 2009 and 2014.
Demographics
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the rural district's population (as a part of the former Khoda Afarin District of Kaleybar County) was 4,378 in 931 households. There were 4,214 inhabitants in 1,063 households at the following census of 2011, by which time the district had been separated from the county in the establishment of Khoda Afarin County. The 2016 census measured the population of the rural district as 4,094 in 1,282 households. The most populous of its 42 villages was Asheqlu, with 534 people. There is a significant decline in the population, a reflection of the general trend in the Arasbaran region due to the lack of jobs.
