Geography test on the topic “Population of Russia” (grade 9)

A little history

The phenomenon itself is not something unusual or unique. It was through migration that humanity, having emerged in Africa, populated all of the earth’s continents except Antarctica. In the 2nd–5th centuries AD, a massive military migration process, known as the Great Migration, led to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Nevertheless, the modern picture of Europe would hardly be possible without this major historical event.

As a result of the Great Geographical Discoveries, mass migrations of Europeans to the colonies began from the end of the 15th century. And in the second half of the 20th century, a reverse process began, in the form of international migration of labor from former colonies to former metropolises.

Current situation

According to official data from the United Nations for 2021, the total number of migrants in the world was 232 million. The percentage of migrants to the total population of the Earth is 3.2%. At the same time, the world's largest migration corridors along which the population moves were identified. These include:

• Mexico - USA with 13 million people migrated from 01/01/2019-01/08/2019.
• Russia - Ukraine (3.5 million moved over the same period of time).
• Ukraine - Russia (indicator - 2.9 million people).
• Kazakhstan - Russia (figure - 2.5 million people over the same time period).

According to experts, the number of international migrants in 2021 is 214 million people. It has been estimated that by 2050 it will be 405 million people. But this forecast was made before the events of the “Arab Spring”, the Civil Wars in Syria and Ukraine. So the migration flows that increased during these events remained outside the scope of the compilers of this forecast. However, what is the situation for the Russian Federation?

Official figures for Russia

Statistical authorities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service are making a lot of efforts to monitor migration flows and establish migration registration.

According to federal statisticians, in 2021 in the Russian Federation the number of arrivals was 4,911,566 people, and the number of departures was 4,345,811 people. Most of it is due to intraregional and interregional migration, including labor migration. However, having remembered the absolute figures of migration, we need to pay attention to the nuances.

Russian statistics separately calculate:

• The number of arrivals from foreign countries (in this case, visitors from the CIS countries are counted separately from visitors from non-CIS countries).
• The number of people leaving for other states (the CIS and non-CIS countries are also counted separately).
• Intra-Russian migration. At the same time, population movements from one Russian region to another and within the same region are calculated separately.

Then all this data is summarized and general digital information on population migration is obtained. Of interest are data on growth and loss by year and individual countries.

At the same time, it is important to remember that migration statistics do not include people who arrived in Russia and left our country on tourist vouchers and visas, as well as guest workers temporarily working in Russia. In fact, statistics count only those foreigners who apply for a residence permit or temporary residence permit, in short, those who have already taken up the legal issues of immigration to Russia.

Migration increase

Indicators of growth and loss are calculated by subtracting data on arrivals and departures. If there is a positive figure, then there is a migration increase; if a negative figure, there is a migration decline.

For example, in 2021, 565,685 foreigners arrived. And 440,831 citizens of other states and stateless persons left the country. The overall migration increase was positive and amounted to 124,854 people. Positive population growth did not cover negative natural growth, due to which the number of people in our country decreased by 99,712 this year.

Migration loss

However, the overall migration growth is achieved only due to visitors from the CIS countries. With non-CIS countries, the migration loss for Russia in 2021 amounted to 4,222 people. 54,961 people arrived in Russia from countries in this category, and 58,913 people left our Motherland for states in the above category. This suggests that Russians continue to strive to go abroad.

On years

It is noticeable that the migration growth rate in 2021 has decreased significantly. For example, in 2021 it was 261,948 people, in 2021 - 211,878 people. The main reasons for this phenomenon should be considered a reduction in the flow from Ukraine (13,776 people in 2021, against 178,274 in 2016) and the massive return of Ukrainians from Russia (122,954 people in 2021, against 59,455 in 2021).

By country and region

Most of all, citizens of Tajikistan arrived in Russia in 2021 - 67929, Kazakhstan - 72141 and Uzbekistan - 55378. In recent years, there has been a significant decrease in arrivals from Uzbekistan. In 2014 it was 131,725 ​​people.

In 2021, the largest number of arrivals from foreign countries were from China - 7544, Georgia - 6345, North Korea - 6038, India - 5217, Germany - 3247.

Ukraine demonstrated the highest rates of emigration to neighboring countries - 122,954 people in 2021. Then, by a large margin, come Kazakhstan - 45,625 people and Tajikistan - 36,901 people. Among non-CIS countries, the leading positions in terms of departures from the Russian Federation were held by China (7544), North Korea (6038), India (5217) and Germany (5209).

By age and gender

The data on international migration growth in Russia by gender and age are interesting. For example, in 2021, 94,760 more women arrived than left, and in 2021, 62,761 more. Similar figures for men were 117,208 and 62,183.

Among the arrivals, young and middle-aged people predominate. The following regions attract emigrants and internal migrants most of all:

• Moscow.
• Saint Petersburg.
• Krasnodar.

The territories of the Far North and Primorsky Krai stand somewhat apart in terms of migration movement. High salaries are of great interest to shift workers who come from all CIS countries. But at the same time, there is a migration outflow of the local population to other territories of Russia.

What is migration growth?

Migration growth is the difference between those who came to a region and those who left. When a negative number is obtained, they speak of migration loss.

In Russia, to determine migration growth, only persons who have received the right to permanent residence (permanent residence) or who left the country with the intention of obtaining such an opportunity in another country are taken into account. This is an irreversible type of population migration.

Rice. 2. Migration growth in Russia, graph.

Illegal migration

The phenomenon of illegal migration into a country is typical for many countries. Illegal migration is understood as a foreigner’s evasion from registration by the authorities of the host country, violation of legal periods of stay, and crossing the border by illegal means.

This problem is quite acute in the Russian Federation. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), there were 2 million illegal foreign citizens in the country in 2021. In total, there were 10 million foreigners in Russia at that time.

What is migration?

Migration refers to the movement of citizens of a country within its borders or abroad. Internal migrations are divided into groups depending on the timing (temporary, seasonal) and purpose (work, tourism) of the move. Separately, the pendulum type is taken into account, when residents make constant trips to work, study, or treatment in another locality.

Citizens crossing the state border are classified as emigrants (leaving the country) or immigrants (entering the country).

The general name for this category of citizens is migrants. In Russia, the Federal Migration Service (FMS) deals with immigrants.

Rice. 1. Employees of the Federal Migration Service of Russia.

Coefficient and dynamics

Based on information from Rosstat, international migration in Russia has been relatively stable over the past 5 years. Let us remind you that Rosstat does not take into account all foreigners who entered our country and registered temporarily, but only those who apply for a residence permit or temporary residence permit.

In 2014, 590,824 people arrived, and in 2021, 565,585. Departure rates were 310,496 and 440,831, respectively. Recent data suggests that our country has ceased to interest some foreigners as a place of work. And this indicates crisis manifestations in our economy.

Internal migration of the population of Russia

According to the State Statistics Committee, the following federal districts of the country demonstrate positive statistics on internal migration:

• Central, the largest federal district in the country (about 40 million people), the main directions are Moscow and the Moscow region;
• Northwestern, thanks to St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, about 14 million people;
• Southern, due to the climate and the best resorts in the country (Sochi, Crimea), the most dynamically developing million-plus cities (Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar), about 14 million people;
• Ural, industrial region with the capital in Yekaterinburg, 12.5 million people.

The central region has positive migration statistics with all federal districts of Russia. The Northwestern Federal District and Southern Federal District distribute among themselves those who did not make it to Moscow - the former are distinguished by the five million population of St. Petersburg, the latter by the good climate and proximity to the Black Sea. Finally, the Urals is a “transshipment” region, hopelessly losing to the first three, but keeping the indicators close to zero due to immigrants from Siberia, the Volga region and the North Caucasus.

There are three reasons for migration: economic, political and religious-cultural.

Important! The seemingly obvious climate reason is statistically secondary. When moving to the southern regions, the decisive reason is a more developed infrastructure and labor market.

1. The main reason for internal migration in the vast majority of cases is economics. Thus, economic reasons were responsible for the massive resettlement of peasants to the city in 1920; something similar happened again in the 90s - richer million-plus cities “sucked out” the active population from villages and villages. There is also a constant flow of emigration from the provinces to the capital;
2. Political reasons appear where the state, for one reason or another, intervenes in conditions that are unfavorable to it. Even in tsarist times, both incentives in the form of lifts for voluntary settlers and exile punishments were used to populate lands beyond the Urals. The Soviet government also tried to resolve the issue through forced relocations and distributions, not forgetting the “carrot” of increased salaries and benefits. This policy has led to the population of the Asian half of the country growing more than fivefold over the last hundred years, while the population of the European half has grown by only 50%;
3. Finally, religious/cultural reasons can be both negative (persecution of faith, language) and positive (moving closer to shrines and fellow believers). In the Russian Federation, freedom of religion is protected by the constitution, but it will be difficult for a follower of exotic religions like Hinduism or Scientology to find a temple with like-minded people outside large cities.