Specific aspects and dynamics of internal migration in Russia

Marina N. Khramova, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

For many decades migration in Russia played significant role in development of the country, especially of its Siberian and Far East territories. In last 20 years, the directional flows of population underwent considerable changes, as by virtue of the changing geopolitical situation, as for a number of social and economic reasons. The predominant component of the migratory movements is an internal migration, which accounts for 80% of all migration in Russia. The character and scale of these migratory flows varies significantly among regions. By the early 2000’s, today’s picture of migratory exchange between regions in Russia was formed. Nearly all Siberia and all Russian Far East lose their population in migratory exchange with regions of Central, North-Western, and Urals Federal Districts. The migration activity of Russians significantly decreased during the last decade. While in 2000 regional and interregional migration flows were at 2.3 million people a year, by 2010 this figure has decreased to 1.7 million. On average, the shortening of a distance between departure and arrival regions could be defined as well-established trend. The exception is Far East Federal District, where migration to Central Federal District accounts for more than 30% of all interregional movements. The sex-age structure of migration underwent a transformation during the last two decades: a characteristic component is a rise in average age of migrants with the predominance of women among them (53% - 54% on average, mostly through the women of retirement ages). Current migration situation in Russia has a major impact on the country development. The characteristic features of migration in Russia are: geographic maldistribution of population, the working-age population outflow from Siberian and Far Eastern regions to the central parts of Russia, an increasing role of international migration, including the labour one.