Analysis of migration processes based on census data

Abstract

The subject matter of research is the internal migration processes of the Russian population in the period from the 1960s to 2010. The research is based on the data about the territorial population flows published in the all-Union census materials of 1970, 1979, and 1989, and in the all-Russia census materials of 2002 and 2010. The basic migration flows and directions are considered. Methodologically, the analysis of migration is based on the use of end-to-end indicators enabling to assess the dynamics of migration processes over a long period. Special attention is paid to rural-urban internal migrations, the volumes, patterns and consequences of which have not been so far properly investigated or assessed. The authors offer and calculate relative indicators that have never been used to assess the processes in question. To make the census materials of the soviet and post-soviet periods comparable, the economic zoning adopted before 2000 is used, and the administrative-territorial network is unified. The authors confirm the hypothesis that from decade to decade the intensity of territorial mobility of both urban and rural population was reduced. Interregional migration flows are considered, and various tendencies and migration intensity for over four decades are de ned. The authors analyze the dynamics in the structure of migrants by the time they lived in the place of their permanent residence in various regions. The research shows that the tendencies developed at that time and persisting continue to adversely affect the territorial re-distribution of population and the regional social and economic development of the country. The research results can be used in adjusting the regional socio-economic and migration policy.