Immigration VS Emigration: The Compensatory Role of Migration in the Demographic Development of Russian Regions

For the Russian Federation, international migration plays an important role in shaping the population of many regions. Migration gain partially compensates for the natural decline caused by depopulation. However, in 2020–2021 only a small number of subjects of the Russian Federation were able to make up for the demographic losses due to migration, both domestic and international. This can be partly explained by the impact of COVID restrictions, as a result of which international migration decreased significantly in 2020. Another reason may be related to the reorientation of migration flows from Russia’s traditional donor countries to other destinations. In the conditions of depopulation, it is worth paying attention to another process – the emigration of Russian citizens abroad. The goal of this work is to study the impact of international migration in the regions of the Russian Federation on the size and demographic structure of the country’s population in 2020–2021. In the paper, we analyze the dynamics of mortality and natural decline in the population of the Russian Federation during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess the impact of the pandemic on educational and labor migration to Russia. Some of the consequences of emigration to the main recipient countries are also being discussed. It is shown that the Coronavirus pandemic has had a multidimensional and prolonged impact on the demographic development of Russian regions. In the context of restricted mobility, the scale of international migration in 2020 has significantly decreased. The increase in migration made it possible only partially to compensate for natural population losses. The significant scale of emigration also causes concern. Comparison of the structure of immigration and emigration flows allows us to conclude that, as a result of emigration, there is an outflow of human capital from a number of strategically important regions of the country.