The Changing Landscape of Russia's Emigration from 1990 to 2020: Trends and Determinants

Abstract

The profound socio-economic and political transformations that have occurred in post-Soviet Russia had a significant impact on Russian emigration. Emigration is becoming increasingly threatening for Russia since it can lead to the loss of its demographic, socio-economic and intellectual potential. According to our estimates, the actual Russian emigration over the past 30 years significantly exceeds the official statistical figures. The present study identifies three main periods in the evolution of Russian emigration from 1990 to 2020 as well as different determinants of emigration, socio-economic characteristics of emigrants, and the emigration channels and routes. The study of the transformation of ‘push’ factors, the list of which tends to shift in the direction of narrowing the spectrum and increasing the influence of economically deterministic reasons for emigration, plays an important role in the research. The transition from one period to another was caused by socioeconomic and political changes in Russia, as well as by some changes in the migration legislation. At the third stage, which ended in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the list of reasons for emigration narrowed significantly. Russian emigration in the specified became more diverse in terms of emigration channels and destination countries. To a certain extent, new Russian emigrants considered themselves as global citizens who were well aware of peculiarities of living and working abroad; they speak one or more foreign languages and have fewer difficulties in adapting to a new country. The study is based on the data from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), foreign statistical agencies, the OECD and the UN DESA Population Division.