The second post in the series will look at Kazakhstan's interregional migration. The first post outlines the main values of migration and its three directions: https : // www.crcons.com / rus / b20200928 . The purpose of the post is to visually demonstrate the migration flows of the regions. On the interactive map on our website, you can independently study the migration processes of the regions you are interested in, directions for different time periods ( https : // www.crcons.com / rus / b202011051 ).

The first and second dashboards show the directions of EXIT from the regions, the third and fourth dashboards show the sources of ARRIVAL in the regions . Filters at the top of the dashboard allow you to select the region of interest in Kazakhstan and the time period. For the analysis, data for 2000-2019 were used.

The main conclusions of interregional migration based on aggregated data for the entire available period:

1. The main donor regions of migrants are the southern regions of the country: Almaty (555.6 thousand people), the former South Kazakhstan region (435.6 thousand) and Zhambyl (303.6 thousand) regions. They account for 35% of all migrants. The peculiarity of these regions is a high population, relatively low incomes and a predominantly agricultural type of employment. Accordingly, these same regions have the largest negative migration balance: the former South Kazakhstan region - -216.7 thousand and Zhambyl region - -181.3 thousand people.    

2. At the same time, there is a positive migration balance for the indicated period only in three regions: Nur-Sultan city (546.3 thousand people), Almaty city (425.9 thousand) and Mangystau region (17.6 thousand).    

Cities are an attractive destination due to relatively high incomes, labor market opportunities and education. Mangistau oblast has several distinctive characteristics: geographic isolation, a large flow of oralmans (now “ kandas ”) and relatively high incomes with stable wage employment in the countryside.

3. The main internal direction of the regions is Almaty. It accounted for more than 864 thousand migrants, or 23.6% of all interregional migration in 2000-2019. The city is an important destination for both neighboring and remote regions.    

The city of Nur-Sultan only slightly lags behind the city of Almaty with 845 thousand people (23%). It should be noted separately that the location of the city in the north may be a new incentive for residents of the northern regions to move to Nur-Sultan, and not to Russia.

4. Large flows of people from oblasts to large cities also demonstrate large reverse migration. Thus, the link Almaty region - Almaty city shows that during the migration of the population of 386 thousand people to the city, 203 thousand people moved in the opposite direction, in both directions this is the strongest link. From Akmola region to Nur-Sultan - 181.9 thousand people, back - 71.4 thousand people. Presumably, a large proportion of these migrants are people who have returned to their small homeland. Possible reasons could include strong family ties, graduation, high competition in the city, poor adaptation experiences, or poor environmental conditions.    

5. Another direction of migration is moving to neighboring regions. All regions have strong ties with neighboring regions. In addition to the standard factors in finding opportunities to improve living standards, this is due to such reasons as: living of relatives in neighboring regions, relatively cheap cost of moving, a similar lifestyle and better awareness of opportunities in neighboring regions.    

Taken together, the population of Kazakhstan is actively moving between regions, which demonstrates their social cohesion. The key factors influencing the decision to relocate are the attractiveness of cities (due to the difference in income and labor market opportunities) and geographical proximity. The combination of these factors proves the presence of "gravitational effects" of large cities, which attract the main human and financial resources of satellite regions. In the future, in the absence of prerequisites for changing the situation, the trends will continue.

The next post in the series on migration will touch upon the topic of external emigration and immigration of Kazakhstan.