THE BARRIER EFFECT OF REGIONAL BORDERS ON MIGRATION IN RUSSIA
Abstract
Although international borders are widely recognised as barriers to migration, evidence of a comparable effect at internal administrative boundaries remains limited. This study assesses the barrier effect of regional boundaries on long-term internal migration in Russia and examines the factors that may explain it. The study draws on anonymised individual-level data on internal migrants for 2011—2020, enabling an analysis of migration links between settlements. It compares intra- and interregional migration links across 165 settlement pairs in different parts of Russia. Settlement pairs were selected to maximise comparability in terms of population size and the distance between settlements. This approach provides a basis for assessing the barrier effect of regional boundaries through differences in migration intensity while accounting for these two key characteristics. The results show that intraregional migration intensity is 3.5 times that of interregional migration. Regional boundaries consistently act as barriers to migration, although the magnitude of this effect varies with the relative attractiveness of neighbouring regions to migrants, differences in their ethnic composition, and the strong pull of particular centres. The effect also depends on the location of settlements relative to regional capitals and other local migration destinations.