 There was even an attempt by the Russian authorities to create 16 Jewish agricultural colonies, where 10,589 people would settle.However within less than 2 generations, most of them sold the land to the local Moldavians and moved to the cities and fairs.The various population movements saw an increase of the Slavic population to more than a fifth of the total population by 1920, while the proportion of the Moldovan population steadily decreased.