“Agglomeration of flows”: case of migration ties between the Arctic and the southern regions of Russia

Regional Science Policy & Practice. 2022. Vol. 14. No. 1. P. 63–85.

Nadezhda Zamyatina, Goncharov R.

Although the northern regions of Russia are relatively sparsely populated, they account for a significant portion of all-Russian migrations. Contrary to the widespread stereotype that these migrations are based on the return of people who migrated to the North and Arctic during the Soviet era, there is a two-way migration (although outflow from the North in many cases prevails). At the same time, a number of pairs of regions (northern—southern) have developed, migration between which is especially strong. To identify them, the method of calculating Migration Indices of Proportionality of (spatial) Structure was used. It is based on calculating migration volumes in a model based on the hypothesis of a uniform distribution of migration flows. The discrepancy between the real volumes of migration and the model ones makes it possible to identify extraordinary flows between a couple of regions. Examples of such flows are: Murmansk Oblast’–Novgorod Oblast’, Magadan Oblast’—Belgorod Oblast’, Kamchatka Oblast’—Kaliningrad Oblast’, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug—Republic of Bashkortostan, etc. The history of the “exit” of migrants to the North during the Soviet era, but also to a large extent with the unique institutional features of individual regions of Russia.

Keywords: agglomeration, proximity, Arctic, migrations, space of flows