Russia’S Migration Process In 2013

The year 2013 brought no changes to the existing situation as compared with the previous year – either in terms of its overall development or from the point of view of the fact that Russia’s migration growth statistics now include also a certain part of temporary (labor) migration. The share of positive net migration is increasingly concentrating specifically in several RF subjects. While in 2009 the top ten regions housed 67.3% of positive net migration, in 2013 this index amounts to 87.7%. This means that only 12–15 regions in this country appear to be attractive to migrants – that is, enjoy economic stability. On the whole, such an evident shrinkage of growth poles in the country is a clear sign of a looming economic crisis, made visible by the phenomenon of migration. It is very difficult to find any objective economic sources of the October 2013 events in Moscow’s Biryulevo district. Or, to be more correct, such sources may indeed exist, but they mostly have to do with property redistribution, and not with migration issues. The entire discourse going on around these events lies in a political dimension; once again, a hot discussion centers around the negative and positive effects of migration for Russia’s economic system and – due to lack of well-substantiated studies on the economics of migration – the emphasis is placed, first of all, on its negative features