The Russian population of the near abroad: geodemographic dynamics of the post-Soviet period

  • Sergey Sushchiy Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Keywords: neighboring countries, Russian population, geodemographic dynamics, sex and age structure, level of urbanization, migration, assimilation

Abstract

This article explores the geodemographic dynamics of the Russian population of the near abroad in the post-Soviet period. It analyzes the quantitative changes and transformation of its geography, the level of urbanization and the gender and age structure. The study showed that in the post-Soviet period there was a sharp decline in the number of Russians in all neighboring countries. This process was most intensive in the 1990s. The maximum demographic losses during this period were suffered by the Russian population of Transcaucasia and a number of countries in Central Asia. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the rate and absolute scale of decline are decreasing, but the trend itself remains stable. This is associated with the natural decline of the Russian population, its migration to Russia and foreign countries, and assimilation. The relationship of these factors to the quantitative decline has varied across time and across individual countries. In almost all Russian communities, a significant preponderance of women is recorded. The median age of Russians in all neighboring countries is more than 40 years. The level of urbanization of Russians in most neighboring countries has decreased. Better preserved are the metropolitan and rural Russian populations. The demographic ratio of the Russian communities of individual countries and macroregions has changed. The number of Russians in Kazakhstan and Ukraine (without the people's republics of Donbass) is already comparable, and there are more Russians in the Baltic countries than in Central Asia. Russian communities of unrecognized (partially recognized) states are characterized by increased demographic stability.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aleinikov M.V., Borovikov I.V. (2013). Russian population of Kazakhstan: socio-demographic transformations (the 90s of the ХХ century). Mir Evrazii [Eurasia World], 21 (2), 2–8. (In Russ.).

Arefiev A.L. (2012). Russkiy yazyk na rubezhe XX-XXI vekov [Russian language at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries]. Moscow: TSentr sotsial’nogo prognozirovaniya. (In Russ.).

Buzaev V. (2016). Pravovoye i fakticheskoye polozheniye russkogovoryashchego men’shinstva v Latvii [The legal and actual situation of the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia]. Riga. (In Russ.).

Fedorko V.N., Kurbanov Sh.B. (2018). Etnogeograficheskoye rayonirovaniye Uzbekistana [Ethno-geographical zoning of Uzbekistan]. Izvestiya geograficheskogo obshchestva Uzbekistana [News of the Geographical Society of Uzbekistan], 54 (Tashkent), 42–53. (In Russ.)

Kabuzan V.M. (1996). Russkiye v mire [Russians in the world]. St. Petersburg: Blits. (In Russ.).

Khallik K.S. (2011). Russkiye v Estonii [Russians in Estonia]. In Russkiye: etnosotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Russians: ethnosociological research] (pp. 90–119). Moscow: Nauka. (In Russ.)

Khoperskaya L.L. (2012). Rossiyskiye sootechestvenniki v TSentral’noy Azii – demograficheskiy resurs, otrezannyy lomot’ ili khraniteli russkogo mira? [Are Russian compatriots in Central Asia a demographic resource, a slice cut off or keepers of the Russian world?]. Etnopanorama, 3–4, 5–12. (In Russ.)

Manakov A.G. (2020). Territorial’nyye razlichiya v dole russkikh v postsovetskikh stranakh Vostochnoy Evropy i Baltii [Territorial differences in the share of Russians in the post-Soviet countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic]. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya geograficheskaya, 2, 179–190. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.31857/S2587556620020090

Manakov A.G., Chuchenkova O.A. (2016). Izmeneniye chislennosti i etnicheskoy struktury naseleniya Pskovo-Baltiyskogo regiona s 1897 po 2015 gg. [Change in the number and ethnic structure of the population of the Pskov-Baltic region from 1897 to 2015]. Vestnik Pskovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, Seriya «Estestvennyye i fiziko-matematicheskiye nauki», 8, 77–88. (In Russ.).

Martsinkyavichus A. (2013). Russkiye v nezavisimoy i sovetskoy Litve: demografiya, sotsial’noye polozheniye, identichnost’ [Russians in independent and Soviet Lithuania: demography, social status, identity]. In Etnicheskaya politika v stranakh Baltii [Ethnic policy in the Baltic countries] (pp. 197–218). Moscow: Nauka. (In Russ.).

Mitrofanova I.V., Sushchiy S.Ya. (2017). Russkiye na Ukraine: geodemograficheskiye itogi postsovetskogo perioda i srednesrochnyye perspektivy. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya, 8, 46–59. (In Russ.).

Mozaki N.Z. (2018). Etnicheskaya kartina Gruzii po rezul’tatam perepisi 2014 g. [Ethnic picture of Georgia according to the results of the 2014 census]. Etnograficheskoye obozreniye, 1, 104–120. (In Russ.).

Naseleniye SSSR [The population of the USSR] (1989). Moscow: Finansy i statistika. (In Russ.).

Nikiforov I.V., Poleschuk V.V. (2013). Demografiya russkogo naseleniya Estonii v XX veke [Demography of the Russian population of Estonia in the twentieth century]. In Etnicheskaya politika v stranakh Baltii [Ethnic policy in the Baltic countries] (pp. 155–176). Moscow: Nauka. (In Russ.)

Ostapenko L.V., Subbotina I.A. (2011). Russkiye v Moldavii: sotsial’no-demograficheskiye transformatsii. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya, (5), 61–71. (In Russ.).

Perepis’ naseleniya Moldovy 2014 [Census of Moldova 2014] (2014). Retrieved from https://recensamint.statistica.md/en/dissemination/person (data downloaded on 12.04.2020).

Romantsov V.O. (2008). Naselennya Ukraїni і yogo rіdna mova za chasіv radyans’koї vladi ta nezalezhnostі (XX — pochatok XXI stolіttya) [The population of Ukraine and its native language during the days of Soviet power and independence: XX – the beginning of the XXI century]. Kiev: Izdatel’stvo im. O. Teligy. (In Russ.).

Rybakovsky L.L. (1996). Rossiya i novoye zarubezh’ye: migratsionnyy obmen i ego vliyaniye na demograficheskuyu dinamiku [Russia and the New Abroad: Migration Exchange and its Impact on Demographic Dynamics]. Moscow: ISPI RAN. (In Russ.).

Savoskul S.S. (2001). Russkiye novogo zarubezh’ya: Vybor sud’by [Russian new abroad: the choice of fate]. Moscow: Nauka. (In Russ.).

Statistika Estonii. Baza dannykh [Statistics of Estonia. Database] (2020). Retrieved from http: //andmebaas.stat.ee/ (data downloaded on 04.04.2020).

Sushchiy S.YA. (2016). Etnodemograficheskiye aspekty russko-ukrainskogo vzaimodeystviya (Ukraina i YUg Rossii) [Ethnodemographic aspects of Russian-Ukrainian interaction (Ukraine and the South of Russia)]. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.

Sushchiy S.YA. (2018a). Russkiye v Pribaltike – geodemograficheskiye trendy postsovetskogo perioda i perspektivy pervoy poloviny XXI veka [Russians in the Baltics – geodemographic trends of the post-Soviet period and prospects for rst half of the XXIst century]. Narodonaseleniye, 21(3), 21–36. DOI: 10.26653/1561-7785-2018-21-3-02. (In Russ.)

Sushchiy S.YA. (2018b). Russkiye Kazakhstana – geodemograficheskaya dinamika postsovetskogo perioda i perspektivy pervoy poloviny XXI veka. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya, 8, 22-37. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.31857/S013216250000759-7

Tishkov V.A. (1993). Russkiye v Sredney Azii i Kazakhstane [Russians in Central Asia and Kazakhstan]. In Issledovaniya po prikladnoy i neotlozhnoy etnologii [Studies in applied and urgent ethnology] (Doc. no. 51). Moscow: IEARAN. (In Russ.).

Tsutsiev A.A. (2006). Atlas etnopoliticheskoy istorii Kavkaza (1774–2004). [Atlas of the ethnopolitical history of the Caucasus (1774–2004)]. Moscow: Evropa. (In Russ.).

Volkov V.V. (2013). Demografiya russkogo naseleniya Latvii v KHKH – XXI vv. [Demography of the Russian population of Latvia in the XX – XXI centuries]. In Etnicheskaya politika v stranakh Baltii [Ethnic policy in the Baltic countries] (pp. 177–196). Moscow: Nauka. (In Russ.).

Vsesoyuznaya perepis’ naseleniya 1989 goda [All-Union Population Census 1989] (1989). Demoscope Weekly. URL: http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_89.php (In Russ.).

Zhukov S.V., Reznikova O.V. (2001). TSentral’naya Aziya v sotsial’no-ekonomicheskikh strukturakh sovremennogo mira [Central Asia in the socio-economic structures of the modern world]. Moscow: Moskovskiy obshchestvennyy nauchnyy fond. (In Russ.).

Published
2020-07-18
How to Cite
SushchiyS. (2020). The Russian population of the near abroad: geodemographic dynamics of the post-Soviet period. Demographic Review, 7(2), 6-30. https://doi.org/10.17323/demreview.v7i2.11137
Section
Original papers