Migration processes in national republics with different levels of human development: the cases of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and Tuva

Based on statistics for 2012-2021, the article provides a comparative analysis of some migration indicators in the republics of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and Tuva. The selection was informed by different levels of human development. In Tatarstan, the level of human development act as a migration attractor and contribute to stable population grown due to migrants. In Tuva, they have become a repulsive force and have led to a permanent population decline. While these two republics demonstrate two opposite types of migration processes, Bashkortostan occupies an intermediate position between them and can be linked to both Tuva (for example, by the nature of interregional exchange) and Tatarstan (by some indicators of international migration). Bashkortostan occupies the same intermediate position in terms of human development. The higher the level of human development in the region, the more stable and << calmer >> the migration situation gets. Firstly, along with the positive values of migration growth, there is a relatively low intensity of intraregional and interregional exchange and high levels of the international; secondly, migration indicators do not feature strong fluctuations when external conditions change, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. And, vice versa, the lower the level of development of the region, the more pronounced the migration decline of the population gets, and the more intensive the exchange takes place within the republic and between it and other regions, while that with other countries gets progressively weaker. When external conditions change in an underdeveloped region, migration suffers huge fluctuations. The former trend is more evident in such regions as Tatarstan; while Tuva is an example of the latter. The direction and intensity of migration processes are also influenced by the settlement system within a region. This can be seen in the center-periphery features of migration: the population is drawn into large cities and settlements adjacent to them. This trend, although common to all of republics in Russia, is most pronounced in Bashkortostan, which has a relatively high intensity of intraregional migration. In addition, the absence of large cities and the low level of their socio-economic development contribute to a vigorous outflow of population from the republic, as it happens in Tuva.