After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, there were changes in migration patterns. First, migration directions have changed. In the USSR migration had been directed from the centre to the periphery (from Russia to the national republics); now it is in the opposite direction – from the former Soviet republics – to Russia. Internal migration was transformed to international migration. Secondly, there were new forms of migration on the post-Soviet territory. Labour migration became very active. It is directed from the countries of the Central Asia and Transcaucasia region to Russia and Kazakhstan. Thanks to emigration the Russian-speaking Diaspora has become the second largest in number in the world after the Chinese Diaspora. Thirdly, the social-demographic structure of migrants has changed. There are more women, youth and inhabitants from countryside in migratory flows. Migration has important social, economic and demographic consequences for the Post-Soviet countries and Russia. These problems are considered in the presentation.

Professor Sergei V Ryazantsev is Head of the Center of Social Demography and Economic Sociology at the Institute of Social and Political Research, Russian Academy of Sciences.