THE RURAL POPULATION DYNAMICS OF IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAKHA (YAKUTIA) IN THE POST-SOVIET PERIOD: GENERAL TRENDS AND GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCES

The authors investigate general trends and spatial differences in the rural population dynamics in the Arctic regions (uluses) of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in relation to the ethnic factor, features of economic activity and transport accessibility of the territory using statistical, comparative geographical, cartographic and field research methods. Against the general decline by more than a quarter of the rural population of the Yakutia Arctic regions in the post-Soviet period, they obseve significant geographical differences: from a reduction by more than half in the Allaikhovskiy and Verkhnekolymskiy uluses with the smallest share of the indigenous population and industrial and transport development to the population growth in the Olenekskiy and Eveno-Bytantayskiy uluses with the largest share of indigenous peoples and reindeer herding and fishing type of economic activity. An important role in the stabilization and growth of the population in the Eveno-Bytantaysky ulus played state support measures for agriculture in breeding of Yakut aboriginal cattle, and increase in the number of people employed in agriculture. In the Oleneksky ulus, the population growth was due to the implementation of the ulus development program associated with the activities of the diamond mining company Almazy Anabara, with which signed agreements on socio-economic development positively affects the young people staying and the population growth. In the rest of the rural arctic uluses of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), despite the peculiarities of intraregional migration (the outflow of the population to the uluses of Central Yakutia and the regional center), the ethnic factor, the peculiarities of economic activity and the relative transport isolation of rural settlements indirectly contributed to the relative stability in the size of the rural population.

1. Arctic Human Development Report. Regional Processes and Global Linkages. Eds.: J. N. Larsen, G. Fondahl. Nordic Council of Ministers 2014. Available at: http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:788965/FULLTEXT03.pdf.

2. Petrov A. Human Capital and Sustainable Development in the Arctic: Towards Intellectual and Empirical Framing. Northern Sustainabilities: Understanding and Addressing Change in the Circumpolar World. Eds.: Fondahl G., Wilson G. Springer Polar Sciences. [S. l.], Springer Intern. Publ. Switzerland, 2017, ðð. 203—220.

3. Crate S. Beginnings of a Rural Sustainability Paradigm: The Arctic as Case in Point. Northern Sustainabilities: Understanding and Addressing Change in the Circumpolar World. Eds.: Fondahl G., Wilson G. Springer Polar Sciences. [S. l.], Springer Intern. Publ. Switzerland, 2017, ðð. 253—267.

4. Fondahl G., Wilson G. Exploring Sustainabilities in the Circumpolar North. Northern Sustainabilities: Understanding and Addressing Change in the Circumpolar World. Eds.: Fondahl G., Wilson G. N. Springer Polar Sciences. [S. l.], Springer Intern. Publ. Switzerland, 2017, ðð. 1—9.

5. Heleniak T. The future of the Arctic populations. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1707316.

6. Heleniak T. Polar Peoples in the Future: Projections of the Arctic Population. Executive Summary 2019. Available at: http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1428148&dswid=-8167.

7. Ramage J., Jungsberg L., Wang S., Westermann S., Lantuit H., Heleniak T. Population living on permafrost in the Arctic. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348295932_Population_living_on_permafrost_in_the_Arctic/references.

8. Fondahl G., Filippova V., Savvinova A. Introducing a Registry of Indigenous Persons in Russia: Rationale and Challenges. Espace Populations Sociétés. 2020 / 1-2 “Identification, visibility and recognition of Indigenous peoples. Geographical perspectives”, 15 p. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4000/eps.9582.

9. Stammler F., Ivanova A. Resources, rights and communities: Extractive mega-projects and local people in the Russian Arctic. Europe-Asia Studies, 2016, pð. 1220—1244. DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2016.1222605.

10. Balzer M. Indigeneity, land and activism in Siberia. A. Tidwell and B. Zeller (eds.). Land, Indigenous Peoples and Conflict. New York, Routledge, 2016, pð. 9—27.

11. Heleniak T., Napper O. The role of statistics in relation to Arctic Indigenous realities. Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic. 1st Edition. [S. l.], 2020, pð. 5—27.

12. Filatova O. V. Development of the Northern and Arctic territories: the main problems and directions of research (review of monographs 2010—2015). Vestn. RUDN. Ser. Gos. i municip. upravlenie, 2015, no. 4, ðð. 85—96. (In Russian).

13. Smirnov A. V. World Arctic population: population dynamics and settlement centers. Arktika i Sever. [Arctic and North], 2020, no. 40, ðð. 270—290. DOI: 10.37482/issn2221-2698.2020.40.270. (In Russian).

14. Fauzer V. V., Lytkina T. S., Fauzer G. N. Features of population settlement in the Arctic zone of Russia. Arktika: ekologiya i ekonomika. [Arctic: Ecology and Economy], 2016, no. 2 (22), ðð. 40—50. (In Russian).

15. Selin V. S., Vasil’ev V. V., Shirokova L. N. Russian Arctic: geography, economy, zoning. In-t ekon. problem Kol’skogo nauch. tsentra RAN. Apatity, Izd-vo Kol’skogo nauch. tsentra RAN, 2011, 203 ð. (In Russian)

16. The Russian Arctic: a modern Development paradigm. Ðod red. akad. A. I. Tatarkina. St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriya, 2014, 844 ð. (In Russian).

17. Efremova I., Didenko N., Rudenko D., Skripnuk D. Disparities in rural development of the Russian arctic zone regions. Economics, Research for rural development, 2017, vol. 2, pð. 189—194. DOI: 10.22616/rrd.23.2017.067.

18. Podoplyokin A. O. Rural residents of the coastal territories of the Arkhangelsk region: a “living population” or a resource for the development of the Russian Arctic? Vestn. Ros. gumanit. nauch. fonda, 2016, no. 2 (83), ðð. 213—222. (In Russian).

19. Kumo K., Litvinenko T. V. Instability and stability in the dynamics of the population of Chukotka and its settlements in the post-Soviet period: regional features, intraregional and local differences. Izv. Ros. Akad. nauk. Ser. geogr., 2019, no. 6, ðð. 107—125. DOI: 10.31857/S2587-556620196107-125. (In Russian).

20. Fauzer V. V., Nazarova I. G., Fauzer G. N. Rural population of the northern region: features of life activity, dynamics and settlement. Korporativnoe upravlenie i innovacionnoe razvitie ekonomiki Severa. Vestn. NITs KPUVI SyktGU, 2011, no. 4. (In Russian).

21. Fedorova E. N. Population of Yakutia: past and present (geodemographic study). Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1998, 202 ð. (In Russian).

22. Mostahova T. S. Migration mobility of the population of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Migracionnye processy v Aziatsko-Tihookeanskom regione: istoriya, sovremennost’, praktiki vzaimodejstviya i regulirovaniya. Sbornik trudov mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferentsii. Vladivostok, 2015, ðð. 89—92. (In Russian).

23. Sukneva S. A. Arctic zone of the Northeast of Russia: problems of demographic development. Region. ekonomika: teoriya i praktika. [Regional Economics: Theory and Practice], 2013, 25 (304), ðð. 13—16. (In Russian)/

24. Naberezhnaya A. T. Problems of improving the standard of living of the population of the Arctic regions of Yakutia. Problemy sovrem. ekonomiki. [Problems of Modern Economics], 2015, ðð. 241—244. (In Russian).

25. Osipova O. V. Gender and age structure of the population of the Arctic zone of Yakutia. Regional’nye problemy. [Regional Problems], 2013, vol. 16, no. 2, ðð. 137—142. (In Russian).

26. Gavril’eva T. N., Kolomak E. A., Zaharov A. I., Horunova  K. V. A retrospective of settlement in Yakutia based on the analysis of population censuses. Voprosy statistiki, 2019, vol. 26, no. 12, ðð. 39—51. (In Russian).

27. Gnatyuk G. A. Geography of the population of Yakutia. Ucheb. Posobie. Yakutsk, Yakut. un-t, 1996. 63 ð. (In Russian).

28. Ponomareva G. A., Bubyakin V. I. Typology of rural settlements of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) by the number of inhabitants (population). Ekonom. analiz: teoriya i praktika. [Economic Analysis: Theory and Practice], 2013, 31 (334), ðð. 56—62. (In Russian)

29. Sivceva S. I. Analysis of demographic processes of the urban and rural population of Yakutia. Teorii i problemy polit. issled. [Theories and Problems of Political Studies], 2016, no. 4, ðð. 201—210. (In Russian).

30. Litvinenko T. V., Kumo K., Savvinova A. N., Filippova  V.  V. Rural Population Dynamics in the Russian Extreme North in 1989—2019: A Case of Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Geography, Environment, Sustainability (GES Journal), 2020, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 65—71.

31. Savvinova A. N., Filippova V. V., Fedorova A. S., D’yachkovskij G. E. Materials of population censuses as a source for spatial analysis of the rural settlement system of Yakutia. Tematicheskoe kartografirovanie dlya sozdaniya infrastruktur prostranstvennyh dannyh. Materialy IX nauchnoj konferencii po tematicheskoj kartografii (Irkutsk, 9-12 noyabrya 2010 g.) Vol. 2. Irkutsk, Izd-vo In-ta geografii im. V. B. Sochavy SO RAN, 2010, ðð. 138—140. (In Russian).

32. Egorov E. G., Petuhov G. E. Modern economy of the Arctic zone of Yakutia. Ekon. analiz: teoriya i praktika. [Economic Analysis: Theory and Practice], 2013, 31 (334), ðð. 23—27. (In Russian).