Emigration from Russia: statistics and real numbers
This is an automatic translation.
Click here to read the publication in the original language.
According to Rosstat, about 4.5 million people left Russia from 1989 to 2015. Since the methodology for recording migration flows from Russia has changed over the past decade, it is not possible to find out the exact number of those who left.
One of the authors of the report, the OIG expert Alexander Grebenyuk, says that there is not enough information to estimate the flow of emigrants in the 2010s: “According to our data, about 120,000-150,000 people leave annually since 2013. For example, the elite leave for Switzerland and scientists, but many do it quietly, without taking off the register in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and for the Russian statistics remain unaccounted. ” Although emigration all over the world is considered worse than the level of migration, he adds.
According to experts, the minimum of those who left was in 2009, in 2014 it was approximately approaching the 1995 level. The geography of the regions leaving Russia increased, while the majority left the border regions and regions with high macroeconomic indicators. Among the regions with the largest number of departures from 2012 to 2014 are Moscow and the region, St. Petersburg. If we take it from the beginning of the 2000s, then Omsk Region overtakes Moscow.
Muscovites, more than the rest of the Russians want to leave Russia
The lowest outflow intensity is from the regions with the lowest gross regional product indicators and the highest unemployment rates. The reason that the largest flow of emigrants is from more prosperous and socio-economic regions is that people understand that in these regions, where there are good conditions for development, they have already reached their ceiling - this also applies to scientists and entrepreneurs. , says Grebenyuk: “They have potential for development, which they can no longer realize here. People from poorer regions are still focused on internal migration. ” People simply have no money for emigration.
The emigration flow has high human capital quality indicators. Among the main reasons for emigration are personal, experts say. According to sociological research, this is dissatisfaction with the prospects for the growth of material well-being, social status, personal and economic security. The proportion of those who have high migration attitudes varies from 8 to 23% according to sociological research, the highest rates among young people and middle-aged people with higher education living in large cities.
Also among the reasons pushing for departure are unstable economic conditions for doing business, lack of competition, corruption, increasing risks to personal and business security, low budget expenditures on science and education, and low wages. Among the socio-political reasons are sympathy for opposition views, the danger of being persecuted because of their position, weak institutions, distrust of law enforcement and the judicial system. Among attracting external factors are the demand for highly skilled workers, the opportunity to improve the quality of life, a favorable entrepreneurial climate, etc. “The flow of emigrants will decrease if the level of economic well-being increases, that is, you need to remove the main pushing factor — the economic one. Government measures will not work, we need a structural approach - to change conditions, ”says Grebenyuk.
Emigration of entrepreneurs undermines the Russian economy
According to 2014 data, the flow of Russians to Canada has the highest human capital indicators (42% had a higher education), then in the USA (38%), Israel (34%), Germany (31%). For comparison: the share of persons with higher education among those who immigrated to the Russian Federation is 14%. At the same time, scholars, students, and businessmen often leave for the West, a rentier stratum is gradually growing, taking out cash assets and living on dividends - these are increasingly former officials, political, financial and bureaucratic elite families, the report says.
“Brains are valued abroad, a large number of those who leave are recent university graduates, and the most educated are identified at the training stage. But if Russia does not create attractive conditions, then there will always be interested parties who will be interested in smart people from Russia, ”says Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor. Emigration has always been, the question is in intensity, he says: “We need to create conditions in Russia so that scientists can be in demand here and can implement their developments so that the state is interested in them. Entrepreneurs to create an appropriate business climate. ”
This is an automatic translation.
Click here to read the publication in the original language.
