Instability and stability of population dynamics and local settlements in post-Soviet Chukotka: regional characteristics seen from intraregional and local differences

Abstract

The aims of the study are twofold. First, it aims at identifying geographical characteristics and differences in the stability/instability of population dynamics. Second, the paper examines the sustainability of settlements in the ethnic region in the Arctic Circle and the factors that determine them. Traditional geographical approaches and the field research enabled us to clarify general instability of the population dynamics and the settlements of Chukotka in the 1990s and its stabilization seen after 2002, although there were significant differences at the intra-regional and local levels. Relatively greater stability (a smaller decrease in the population due to a smaller migration outflow and the absence of abandoned settlements) was seen in the population and settlements in regions with high percentage share of indigenous people. The most unstable areas were those with a large share of the newcomers and those with the mining industry, especially in the 1990s. The extremely and most vulnerable was single-company towns which closely connected with mining enterprises, most of which were eliminated before 2000. Differences in stability/instability of population dynamics and local settlements, or differences in resilience/vulnerability of the system at different spatial levels (from regions to individual settlements) will become more evident in the years under crisis but will be smoothed out during the period of relatively stable development.