Post-Soviet population dynamics in the Russian Extreme North: A case of Chukotka

Abstract

The main purposes of the paper is a study of the situation that emerged in the peripheral regions as a result of the state policy of the Soviet period, using the example of the demographic trends in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug as one of the most distal Russian territories with respect to the center of Russia. The paper describes the migration flows in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug as a whole, while the fifth section traces the processes of weakening and full closing of each separate settlement. Although the sharp decline in population in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug was often mentioned in various materials, few specific research has been conducted with the main aim of studying this problem. As is well known, most of the USSR population lived in the European part of the country. At the same time, managing new territories was conducted in a planned manner toward Siberian regions, despite being situated far from large European markets. Presumably, these were attempts to obtain an effective return through the policy with ignoring economic principles. The resulting negative “return” of such state policy of regional management is shown by the present study.