Chernyshev K. A. (2026), Migration attraction zones of Russia’s capital macroregions, 1989–2021, Pskov Journal of Regional Studies, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 121–133. (In Russ.). DOI: https: ...

Òåêñò ñòàòüè íà ñàéòå æóðíàëà URL: https://prj.pskgu.ru/s221979310038039-5-1/ (äàòà îáðàùåíèÿ 24.06.2026)

Abstract

The article examines the migration attraction zones of Russia’s two capital macroregions using population census data for 1989, 2002, 2010 and 2021 on the places of birth of residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow Region and Leningrad Region. The relevance of the study is determined by substantial changes in Russia’s migration space in the post-Soviet period, the need to compare the influence of the Moscow and St. Petersburg macroregions within the country’s spatial structure, and the identification of regions that either steadily gravitated toward a particular capital centre or changed their orientation over the period under consideration. The aim of the study is to identify the attraction zones of the Moscow and St. Petersburg macroregions and to assess the stability of their spatial structure in 1989–2021. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the combined analysis of the absolute size of migrant stocks of people born in Russia’s regions and residing in the two capital macroregions, and of the intensity of interregional linkages measured by coefficients of migration linkage intensity by arrival. This makes it possible to compare the size of migrant stocks and the strength of interregional attraction. As a result, the attraction zones of each of the two centres are identified, and the regions that changed their orientation over the period under consideration are determined. It is shown that, in terms of absolute migrant stocks, the Moscow macroregion clearly dominates, whereas in terms of the intensity of linkages Russia’s interregional space appears more balanced and has a bicentric structure.