Abstract
In this chapter, we aim to demonstrate how the trends, scales, and factors of long-term migration in the CIS countries have changed over time. After the collapse of the USSR, its territory became an arena of mass migrations, which were initially caused by economic and political shocks. In the late 1990s, significant economic and demographic differences between the region’s main donor and recipient countries became evident. A regional migration system has been formed and exists in the CIS, with the main center in Russia and a second center in Kazakhstan. Relations between the majority of other states that made up the former USSR are relatively weak. A year-long outflow of the Russian-speaking population from the states of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, as well as migration among the representatives of the titular nations of these countries to Russia and Kazakhstan have noticeably changed the population structure, both in donor and recipient countries. A significant part of the flow from the states of the European part of the CIS has been reoriented toward countries outside the former USSR.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
This is a system of benefits for those who work in the far north and similar areas with severe climate.
- 2.
The high proportion of births of those born outside the USSR in Armenia is related to the fact that, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Armenians from other countries repatriated to their historic homeland.
- 3.
In 1991, the number of the Soviet Army servants amounted to 3,400,000 persons.
- 4.
In the USSR, the internal migration was limited by the existing system of registration (“propiska”) (Light 2016).
- 5.
At the end of 2013, a sharp decline in energy prices sharply reduced incomes of the population in Russia and other oil- and gas-producing countries (e.g., Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan).
- 6.
This was the final year the current statistics in Russia registered the ethnicity of a migrant.
- 7.
The censuses held in Azerbaijan (1999 and 2009), Georgia (2002), and Moldova (2004) did not cover the entire territory of these countries. The National Statistical Service of Azerbaijan does not receive data from Nagorny-Karabakh, Georgia’s statistics—from the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Armenian statisticians believe that the population of Armenia in the last Soviet census of 1989 was underestimated by about 160 thousand people. In the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, the census was conducted in 2004 and 2015.
- 8.
This estimate is obtained from population censuses adjusted for undercount. Registration gives a lower estimate of net migration (6.7 million). Estimates of net migration obtained from the census results are not distributed by the exit and entrance areas, as well as by the social and demographic characteristics of those participating in the resettlement.
- 9.
The migration of residents of Transnistria, of which departure and entry is not always reflected in the central register of the population of Moldova, is important. An attempt to register people who have been absent for more than a year on the basis of border control data does not always produce reliable results.
- 10.
Monitoring of the implementation of the State Program to Assist Voluntary Resettlement of Ethnic Russians Living Abroad in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (by quarters 2017–2018). Data provided by the Directorate General for Migration Issues (formerly—the Federal Migration Service) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia on request.
References
Bayburin, A. (2017). Sovietskiy passport: Istoria – structura – praktiki [The Soviet Passport: History – Structure – Practice]. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the European University at St. Petersburg.
Chudinovskikh, O. (2012). Migration and bilateral agreements in the Commonwealth of Independent States. In OECD, Free movement of workers and labour market adjustment: Recent experiences from OECD countries and the European Union (pp. 251–276). Paris: OECD Publishing.
Chudinovskikh, O. (2016a). Administrativnaya statistika mezhdunarodnoj migracii: Istochniki, problemy i situaciya v Rossii [Admnistrative statistcs on internaitonal migration: Sources, issues and situation in Russia]. Voprosy statistiki [Statistical Issues], 2, 32–46.
Chudinovskikh, O. (2016b). The need for migration data and their availability in the Countries of North and Central Asia. Series 3. Migration Management in North and Central Asia. United Nation. ESCAP. Accessed November 25, 2018, from https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/3%20Data%20Needs%20Rus%20report%20v4-1-E_0.pdf
Demoscope-Weekly. (2019). All-union population census 1989. Accessed May 25, 2019, from http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_pob_89.php?reg=1
Denisenko, M. B. (2010). Komponenty izmenenya chislennosti narodov Rossii v 1990-kh [Components of the change in the number of Peoples of Russia in the 1990s]. In I. A. Danilova & O. A. Kharayeva (Eds.), Etnicheskaya demografia [Ethnic demography] (pp. 7–23). Moscow: MAKS Press.
FMS, Federal Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. (2002). Informatsionno-statisticheskiy sbornik FMS MVD Rossii [Information and statistical collection of FMS MVD of Russia] No. 1. Moscow.
Gaidar, E. T. (2006). Loss of an Empire. Lessons for Modern Russia. Moscow: ROSSPEN.
IOM, International Organization for Migration. (2002). Tendentsii v oblasti migratsii v stranakh Vostochnoy Evropy i Tsentralnoy Azii. Obzor za 2001–2002 gody. [Migration trends in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: 2001–2002 review]. Geneva: IOM.
Ivakhnyuk, I. V. (2008). Evraziyskaya migratsionnaya sistema: Teoriya i politika [Eurasian migration system: Theory and politics]. Bulletin of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Series: International Relations, No. 2, 21–28.
Khorev, B. S., & Capek, V. N. (1978). Problemy izuchenia migratsii naselenia [Problems of studying human migration]. Moscow: Mysl’ Publishers.
Khorev, B. S., Danilova, I. A., et al. (1986). Razmeshchenie naselenia v SSSR: Regionalnyi aspect dinamiki i politiki narodonaselenia [Distribution of Population in the USSR: The Regional Aspect of Population Dynamics and Policy]. Moscow: Mysl’ Publishers.
Lazareva, O. (2015). Russian migrants to Russia: Assimilation and local labor market effects. IZA Journal of Migration, 4(1), 1–25.
Light, M. (2016). Fragile migration rights: Freedom of movement in post-Soviet Russia. New York: Routledge.
Mansoor, A., & Quillin, B. (Eds.). (2006). Migration and remittances: Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
Mkrtchyan, N. B. (2002). Desyatiletiye vynuzhdennoy migratsii [Decade of Forced Migration]. Demoscope weekly, No. 71–72. Accessed May 20, 2019, from http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2002/071/tema01.php
Mukomel, V. I. (2005). Migratsionnaya politika Rossii: Postsovetskiye konteksty [Russian migration policy: Post-Soviet context]. Moscow: Dipol-T.
Rosstat, Federal State Statistical Service. (2015–2018). Sotsialno-ekonomicheskoye polozheniye Rossii [Social and economic situation in Russia]. Statistical Bulletin. Moscow: Rosstat.
Rosstat, Federal State Statistical Service. (2019a). Censuses of population. Accessed May 25, 2019, from https://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/inspection/vpn/vpn_popul.htm
Rosstat, Federal State Statistical Service. (2019b). Chislennost i migratsiya naseleniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii v 2018 g. [Population size and migration in the Russian Federation in 2018]. Statistical Bulletin. Moscow: Rosstat.
Rybakovsky, L. L. (1973). Regionalnyi analiz migratsii [Regional analysis of migration]. Moscow: Statistica.
Skachkova, G. S. (2012). Legal aspects of labor migration management in the Russian Federation. CARIM-East RR 2012/25, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute, 2012.
Stalker, P. (2000). Workers without frontiers. The impact of globalisation on international migration. Lynne Reinner Publisher.
State Program. (2006). Gosudarstvennaya programma po okazaniyu sodeystviya dobrovolnomu pereseleniyu v Rossiyskuyu Federatsiyu sootechestvennikov. Prozhivayushchikh za rubezhom [State Program to Assist Voluntary Resettlement of Ethnic Russians Living Abroad]. Approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 637 dated June 22, 2006. Accessed December 20, 2018, from http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_135348/9cf95e1cef34d74eca9a5792671e8c9e40db0c88/ Date of view 18.03.2019
UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency. (1992). UNHCR population statistics, time series. Accessed January 7, 2019, from http://popstats.unhcr.org/en/time_series
UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency. (2017). As Ukraine conflict heads into fourth winter, thousands face freezing conditions. Accessed January 7, 2019, from http://www.unhcr.org/ua/en/11624-ukraine-conflict-heads-fourth-winter-thousands-face-freezing-conditions.html#_ga=2.3840371.271345286.1536481594-2093388011.1536269308 Date of view 18.03.2019
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2001). International migration from countries with economies in transition 1980–2000. New York: United Nation. ESA/P/WP.166.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2006). Trends in total migrant stock: The 2005 revision. CD-Room Documentation. New York: United Nations.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2015). International migration flows to and from selected countries: The 2015 revision. Accessed October 31, 2018, from https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/empirical2/migrationflows.asp
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2017). Trends in international migrant stock: The 2017 revision (United Nations database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2017).
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2019). World population prospects. The 2019 Revision. Accessed July 25, 2019, from https://population.un.org/wpp/
Vishnevskiy, A. G. (Ed.). (1999–2001). Naseleniye Rossii 1998 [Population of Russia 1998]. Moscow: University Book House.
Vitkovskaya, G. S. (1993). Vynuzhdennaya migratsiya: Problemy i perspektivy [Forced Migration: Problems and Prospects]. Migration Research Program, Issue III. Moscow: IEF RAS.
Vitkovskaya, G. S. (1998). Desyat let vynuzhdennykh migratsiy v Rossii [Ten Years of Forced Migration in Russia]. Naselenie i obschestvo [Population and Society], No. 32, November.
Vitkovskaya, G. S., & Kocharyan, A. V. (1992). Vynuzhdennyye migratsii kak sotsialnaya problema [Forced migrations as a social problem]. In Z. A. Zaionchkovskaya (Ed.), Migratsiya naseleniya [Migration of the population] (pp. 61–82). Moscow: Center for Demography and Human Ecology.
Vorobeva, O. D., Mkrtchyan, N. V., Moshkin, N. G., & Chulkov, N. V. (1995). Vynuzhdennaya migratsiya naseleniya iz Chechni [Forced Migration of the Population from Chechnya]. Informatsionno-analiticheskiy byullieten Federalnoy migratsionnoy sluzhby [Information and analytical bulletin of the federal migration service], No. 7, 41–47.
Zaionchkovskaya, Zh. A. (2005). Migratsionnyy krizis i migratsionnyy vzryv v Rossii v 1980-e i 1990-e gody [Migration crisis and migration explosion in Russia in the 1980s and 1990s]. In O. Gelzer & P. Polyan (Eds.), Rossiya i ee regiony v XX veke: Territoriya – rasseleniye – migratsii [Russia and its Regions in XX century: Territory – settlements – migration] (pp. 383–412). Moscow: OGI.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Denisenko, M., Mkrtchyan, N., Chudinovskikh, O. (2020). Permanent Migration in the Post-Soviet Countries. In: Denisenko, M., Strozza, S., Light, M. (eds) Migration from the Newly Independent States. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36074-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36075-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)