Russian Opinion on Labor Immigrants

Should the government try to limit the inflow of immigrants, or should it not place any administrative barriers and try to use it for the benefit of Russia?

levada-russia-opinion-about-immigrations

 

Red = Restrict immigration; Blue = Don’t place barriers; Green = N/A.

russian-emigration-immigration-1997-2015

This makes sense. The early 2000s saw an all time low in immigration to Russia – the influx of ethnic Russians from the Near Abroad had abated by that period, while the economy was not yet strong enough to attract masses of Central Asian labor.

From the mid-2000s, large numbers of Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Kyrgyz have been rotating in and out, with the occassional dip during recessions.

If there is one thing that Navalny can capitalize on, it is this graph. Still, there’s no need to overstress its significance. After all, discotent with immigration was similarly high by 2011-12, and Navalny’s nativist credentials then were far stronger, but he was unable to turn it into any significant political success.

Comments

  1. Isn’t the government also more willing to discourage immigration?

    As of Jan. 1, 2015, migrant workers from countries with no visa regime with Russia will have to fulfill a number of conditions, including buying a license and insurance, passing exams, and passing a medical test. The move is part of a migration reform aimed at cutting the proportion of illegal migrants in the country. Observers are sceptical that the initiative will work, however, and say it will only drive migrants underground or dissuade them from coming to Russia altogether.

    http://rbth.com/arts/2014/12/05/changes_to_migration_regulations_aim_to_legalize_shadow_workers_42011.html

  2. anonymous coward says

    Isn’t the government also more willing to discourage immigration?

    Yes. See the sharp trend reversal in 2011 for the ’emigration’ line on the second graph? It’s not Russians suddenly leaving, it’s recent immigrants going home.

  3. Isn’t the government also more willing to discourage immigration?

    Yes. The government over the past few years has begun to enforce regulations whereby any foreigner who receives more than one administrative violation over the course of a year is automatically barred from reentry, and subsequent entry, to Russia for 3-5 years. This can be something as benign as a minor traffic violation, significant to foreigners who drive, more so for the foreigners who drive (taxis and delivery trucks) for a living. Most Russians don’t know about this. Most of the foreigners living in Russia don’t know about it either, and often find out when they’re turned away at the border.

  4. Boris N says

    It’s also possible that this will further encourage the kremlins to intensify immigration from Central Asia.

    There is a good argument to discourage this way of thinking. Thinking of Russia as a sparsely populated country which need more people is one of the biggest misconceptions and lies. Russia is an overpopulated country for its natural environment and carrying capacity. 70% of it (12m sq km) is permafrost and the “Far North”, where only 12m live; hardly 30% are left for decent living, so it is rather 140m people on 5m sq km (or less), which is not that impressive. But even that livable and “comfortable” territory means the average temperature below -10 C in January.

    http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2003/095/tema03.php
    https://geographyofrussia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/159_1.jpg
    https://geographyofrussia.com/ocenka-prirodno-geograficheskix-uslovij-dlya-zhizni-naseleniya-i-xozyajstvennoj-deyatelnosti/
    http://www.200stran.ru/maps_group28_item304.html

    Compare with Canada. 50% of Canadians live to the south of the 45th parallel north, 90% of Russians – to the north; >70% Canadians live to the south of the 49th parallel north, >70% of Russians – to the north.
    http://brilliantmaps.com/half-canada/

    No more people are needed in Russia, neither the natives, nor immigrants.

  5. Russia is an overpopulated country for its natural environment and carrying capacity. 70% of it (12m sq km) is permafrost and the “Far North”, where only 12m live…snip…No more people are needed in Russia, neither the natives, nor immigrants.

    Yes – at least till Putin stops being lazy and fulfills the prophecy* of starting an experimental biodome farming project in the permafrost regions.

    (*prophesied by me)

  6. Silliness. Because of the way the global climate works, Russia is much warmer for its latitude than is North America. Montreal is far to the south of Moscow (it is as far south as northern Italy) , yet has Moscow’s climate. Russia could easily and comfortably have 300 million people in its inhabitable zones.

  7. Philip Owen says

    Farmland is irrelevant. Look at Hong Kong or Australia.

  8. Farmland is irrelevant.

    self-sufficient green biodomes in an icy landscape would be very cool

  9. Australia is a food exporter, while Hong Kong is a seaport and its success is not scalable.

    In any event, as AP has pointed out, Russia could easily feed a twice larger population.

  10. Boris N says

    Don’t be silly yourself. You’re saying like I do not know geography. Don’t judge by yourself. I purposely gave links to the TEMPERATURE maps which you somehow failed to notice.

    Winter temperature in southern Quebec is above -10…-12 C
    https://weather.gc.ca/saisons/image_e.html?format=clim_stn&season=djf&type=temp

    Hardly anybody live where there is colder than that. The density just 50-100 km from Montreal drops to 30 and subsequently to less than 10 per sq km.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_of_Quebec


    In Russia temperature above -10..-12 C is just the westernmost territory. Literally tens of millions of Russians live in the environment where only a couple of millions of Canadians live.
    https://geographyofrussia.com/temperatura-vozduxa/

    Maybe when just in Quebec alone there would live 50 million then we may consider that Russia can or even need indeed sustain 300 million.


    You can calculate yourself what is the density in the area between the -8 and -12 isotherms
    http://www.ecosystema.ru/08nature/world/geoworld/008.gif
    http://www.ecosystema.ru/08nature/world/geoworld/056.gif
    https://www.populationexplorer.com/

    I got 38 for Canada (only the Southeast) and 39 for Russia.

    Between -12 and -20 I got 3 for Canada and 15 for Russia. Five times! Why don’t you go to Canadians and explain them that they need five times more population?