Regional aspects of migration and urbanization in the USSR/Russia in the 20th–21st centuries (using the example of the Penza region)

Abstract

Based on the analysis of statistical data and office documentation, the processes of mechanical movement of the population of the Penza region in the 1930s-2020s are studied. The subject of the study is to determine the factors, regional specifics and the results of migration activity. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of cyclicality of demographic processes. General scientific methods, methods of descriptive statistics and statistical inference are used. The incentives for migration movement have been identified, among which the key ones are reforms of administrative-territorial division; implementation of programs for mobilization and redistribution of labor resources; coercion as a way to counteract labor absenteeism; processes of urbanization, industrialization, “rejuvenation” of the population (in the context of the agricultural and demographic transitions); evolution of living standards. The regional feature lies in the agrarian nature of the region’s economy and, as a result, in the strengthening of the values of traditional society, which explains the shift in the amplitude of fluctuations and the scale, as well as the change in the directions migration. The chronological and structural limits of interregional and external migration are determined.