Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2018 number

The article examines migrations of West Siberian population in 1950-1970. This region is of paramount importance for the national economy. Located in the geographical center of the country, West Siberia is a sparsely populated region experiencing a permanent shortage of labor resources. The author analyzes migration causes from villages to regional cities and from Siberia to other regions of the country based on statistical data obtained from the official territorial bodies of state statistics of regions within West Siberia at the moment of All-Union Population Census of 1959, and the materials of rural population surveys carried out by economic and statistical services during the period under study. The specific material shows the fallacy of the official policy of resettling “unpromising villages”, the belated development of the region as compared to the center areas of the country, and resulting negative consequences for the regional economy and demographic development. The paper considers the negative impact of migrations on the rural areas of the region, especially those under pressure of the administrative and power structures. In particular, it shows how the policy of enlarging villages contributed to decrease of rural residents, reducing the birth rate of the rural population and slowing down the mortality descension, including the infant mortality. The article analyzes data at a district level, which makes them unique for research, as they haven’t been considered and published from this perspective since the late 1920s. It analyzes motives that prompted the population to leave their native places and the size of migration outflow from West Siberia. The author used data of the statistical department, archival materials, publications previously intended only for official use by power structures.