Migration from the Russian north during the transition period

One unintended consequence of Russia's transition to a market economy has been a massive out-migration from the Northern periphery. The major causes of this out-migration have been price liberalization which make the cost of fuel, food, and other consumer goods in the North more expensive; the fiscal decentralization which shifted the burden of local revenue and expenditure responsibility to Northern regions; and a shift in Russia's approach to the development of its Arctic and sub-arctic regions. Among reasons given for leaving by recent migrants from the North included the fact that they always viewed their stay in north as temporary and that it had become senseless to stay there. The study makes a conceptual comparison between the Northern development strategy that existed during Soviet period and that which is evolving under market conditions. Then the Russian North and other Northern regions elsewhere in the world are compared. The major section examines patterns of migration in the Russian North during the transition period beginning, and emphasizes the Northern development strategy existing during the Soviet period. Next are described the levels, direction, age-sex composition, educational, occupational characteristics, and mechanisms of Northern migration trends. Analysis is then done of Northern migration trends in order to determine the causes of this mass migration. The final section attempts to determine the possible future levels of migration from the North.Earth Sciences&GIS,National Governance,Regional Rural Development,Banks&Banking Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

The Changing Spatial Distribution of the Population of the Former Soviet Union

When it existed, the Soviet Union was a closed economic and migration space with tightly-controlled movement of goods, people, and ideas across its borders. It was also an ethnically complex region with 130 different nationalities, fifty-three with territorially-based ethnic homelands, of which fifteen became the successor states to the Soviet Union. The breakup of the Soviet Union, the transition towards market economies, and the liberalization of the societies have together greatly impacted the lives of people in the region. Many found themselves in countries or regions with dramatically shrunken economies or as ethnic minorities in newly independent states and many have chosen migration as a strategy of adaptation to the new circumstances in which they found themselves. Using established migration theory, this dissertation examines the causes of migration among the fifteen successor states since 1991. The main test was to compare the relative impact of economic factors versus ethnic factors driving migration movements in the post-Soviet space. The results showed that while some of the movements could be classified as people migrating to their ethnic homelands, a majority could be explained by neoclassical economic theories of migration and the large income differentials that have resulted from the economic transition. Other theories that have been found to explain migration in other world migration systems were found to also be applicable in the former Soviet Union

Population living on permafrost in the Arctic

Permafrost thaw is a challenge in many Arctic regions, one that modifies ecosystems and affects infrastructure and livelihoods. To date, there have been no demographic studies of the population on permafrost. We present the first estimates of the number of inhabitants on permafrost in the Arctic Circumpolar Permafrost Region (ACPR) and project changes as a result of permafrost thaw. We combine current and projected populations at settlement level with permafrost extent. Key findings indicate that there are 1162 permafrost settlements in the ACPR, accommodating 5 million inhabitants, of whom 1 million live along a coast. Climate-driven permafrost projections suggest that by 2050, 42% of the permafrost settlements will become permafrost-free due to thawing. Among the settlements remaining on permafrost, 42% are in high hazard zones, where the consequences of permafrost thaw will be most severe. In total, 3.3 million people in the ACPR live currently in settlements where permafrost will degrade and ultimately disappear by 2050

Between Security and Mobility: Negotiating a Hardening Border Regime in the Russian-Estonian Borderland

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies on 27th Feb 2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2015.1015408Since the end of the Cold War order post-Soviet borders have been characterised by geopolitical tensions and divergent imaginations of desirable political and spatial orders. Drawing upon ethnographic research in two border towns at the Russian-Estonian border, the article makes a case for a grounded examination of these border dynamics that takes into account how borders as sites of ‘mobility and enclosure’ are negotiated in everyday life and shaped by the differentiated incorporations of statecraft into people’s lives. Depending on their historical memories, people interpret the border either as a barrier to previously free movement or as a security device and engage in correspondingly different relations to the state – privileging local concerns for mobility or adopting the state’s concerns over security and sovereignty. Analysing these border negotiations and the relations between citizens and the state, articulated in people’s expectations and claims, can provide us with a better understanding of how people participate in the making of borders and contribute to the stability and malleability of political orders

Polar Peoples in the Future : Projections of the Arctic Population

This executive summary examines the projected size, composition and geographic distribution of the population of the Arctic in the future, by examining the population projections carried out by the national and regional statistical offices in each of the Arctic regions.   The executive summary is based on the Nordregio Working Paper, Polar Peoples in the Future: Projections of the Arctic Populations.   Population projections are an input into population policy and are used by policymakers for a variety of planning purposes. Policymakers operating at different levels in the Arctic region should be aware of these population trends and able to plan for them

Polar Peoples in the Future : Projections of the Arctic Population

This executive summary examines the projected size, composition and geographic distribution of the population of the Arctic in the future, by examining the population projections carried out by the national and regional statistical offices in each of the Arctic regions.   The executive summary is based on the Nordregio Working Paper, Polar Peoples in the Future: Projections of the Arctic Populations.   Population projections are an input into population policy and are used by policymakers for a variety of planning purposes. Policymakers operating at different levels in the Arctic region should be aware of these population trends and able to plan for them

Nordregio News 3 2016 : Migration and integration

The old age dependency rate is a ticking time bomb that threatens to blow the Nordic welfare model into pieces. Old age dependency rates are rising across the Nordic countries as in most parts of Europe. Due to a selective outmigration of young people towards the cities, the dependency rates are particularly high in rural municipalities, where access to healthcare services is one of the major issues. This issue of Nordregio News focuses on recent migration flows and the Nordic societies’ readiness to welcome the newcomers

International Comparisons of Population Mobility in Russia

The population of Russia is regarded as being quite immobile compared to other countries. There have been some recent methodological advances and new datasets on internal migration which make cross-national comparisons, though these do not extend to Russia. This paper adds comparisons of levels of mobility in Russia with other countries. The study finds that the population of Russia is not significantly less mobile than other large countries and that part of the myth of immobility stems from a deterioration of the migration registration system in the post-Soviet period. There are inconsistencies between lifetime mobility derived from population censuses and annual mobility from a population register which originated during the central-planning period. Given changes in the economic structure at both national and regional levels during the period of economic transition, migration theory predicted significant migration movements, and it seems as if many were not captured by the statistical system

From Migrants to Workers : International migration trends in the Nordic countries

This paper is one of several outputs of a project called From Migrants to Workers: Immigrants’ Role in Local Labour Markets in the Nordic Region for the 2013–2016 Nordic Working Group on Demography and Welfare (Nordregio, 2016). This paper analyses data on recent migration flows into the Nordic countries. Another working paper analysed case studies of the process of integration in selected Nordic regions (Harbo, Heleniak, & Hildestrand, 2017). The paper also provides additional detail for the chapter on migration in the State of the Nordic Region 2018 report