A few weeks ago, Russian committee on state statistics released the first two tables that contain data from the most recent population census 2010. It will be about 2 years before all the results are published. I am just going to comment on the fact that only a few regions of Russia have seen dramatic increases in population from 2002 to 2010, and not surprisingly they are Dagestan (+15.6%), Chechnya (+15%), City of Moscow (+10.9%), Karachaevo-Cherkessiya (+8.9%), Moscow Oblast (+7.2%) and Khanty-Mansi okrug (+6.9%). A few other regions posted slight increases, e.g., city of St. Petersburg grew 4%. With the exception of Dagestan, Chechnya, and Karachaevo-Cherkessiya, the increases are due to primarily immigration from poorer regions in search of work. In the North Caucausus, the combined high fertility and some intra-regional migrations both contributed to increases. The latter are particularly visible with respect to Chechnya (+15%) and neighboring Ingushetiya (-11.6%). Ingushetiya used to harbor many thousands of refugees from the Chechen conflict and some additional refugees from North Ossetiya. Many of these people went back.
There is a discussion in the Russia's government about the feasibility of sustaining the current federal system of regions in the light of continuing depopulation of vast areas in Siberia and northern European Russia. One idea that has been floating recently is to replace the current system of 82 regions with about 25 large viable city-centered agglomerations. Presumably, every city with population over 500,000 could be thus sustained. However, there are some regions today that do not have city of even this size left. It is really unclear what those cities will be required to do, especially in the more distant parts of the country.
Moscow now is officially home to 11,541,300+ residents, plus about 7,092,900+ in Moscow oblast. Together, they approach New York city agglomeration by population size and are by far the largest city agglomeration in Europe. Within Moscow oblast, more than one half of the population live in the districts (rayons) immediately adjacent to Moscow City (e.g., Khimki with 190,000 residents are physically contiguous with Moscow City). If viewed as a continuous city, such metropolis will have about 15 million residents.
There is a discussion in the Russia's government about the feasibility of sustaining the current federal system of regions in the light of continuing depopulation of vast areas in Siberia and northern European Russia. One idea that has been floating recently is to replace the current system of 82 regions with about 25 large viable city-centered agglomerations. Presumably, every city with population over 500,000 could be thus sustained. However, there are some regions today that do not have city of even this size left. It is really unclear what those cities will be required to do, especially in the more distant parts of the country.
Moscow now is officially home to 11,541,300+ residents, plus about 7,092,900+ in Moscow oblast. Together, they approach New York city agglomeration by population size and are by far the largest city agglomeration in Europe. Within Moscow oblast, more than one half of the population live in the districts (rayons) immediately adjacent to Moscow City (e.g., Khimki with 190,000 residents are physically contiguous with Moscow City). If viewed as a continuous city, such metropolis will have about 15 million residents.
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