Urbanization processes in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia): the dynamics of key parameters (1989-2018)

Abstract

This article analyzes the key parameters of urbanization in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) on the background of urbanization processes in other republics in the East of Russia during the period from 1988 to 2018. Attention is paid to the dynamics of demographic development of the cities and workers’ settlements, changes in the structure of urban localities in the republic associated to abolishment of the settlements and turning them into the rural localities. The article also demonstrates which factors affected density or urban population in Yakutia, as well as analyzes the sources and vectors of continuing urbanization. The research leans on the extensive corpus of official statistical data on 11 cities and 67 urban-type settlements acquires based on the results of All-Union Census of 1989, Russian Censuses of 2002 and 2010, and special statistical examinations of Rosstat and its regional branck in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) conducted in 2011-2018. The conclusion is made on the overall deceleration of urbanization processes in the republic for the past 30 years. These changes were associated with restructuration of the regional industry, particularly reduction of urban-type settlement for 27 localities – from 67 to 40. At the same time, population of majority of the cities and settlements during the period from 1990 to 2018 was decreasing; however, the rapid demographic growth of Yakutsk partially compensated for these losses. It is concluded that urban population was concentrated mostly in the capital and its environs, as well as the largest cities of the republic – Neryungri, Mirny, Lensk and Aldan.