Richard H. Rowland

Regional Population Change in Kazakhstan during the 1990s and the Impact of Nationality Population Patterns: Results from the Recent Census of Kazakhstan

An American geographer specializing in population change and urbanization in the countries of the former USSR examines nationwide and regional total, urban, and rural population change in Kazakhstan for 1989-1999, using data from the recently released 1999 census of Kazakhstan. Of particular interest is the analysis of nationality data in the census, available at a level of detail not matched since the last Soviet census in 1989. For the first time in more than a decade, a detailed investigation is possible of changes in the regional and rural-urban populations of major nationality groups in Kazakhstan during the 1990s. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 018, R12, R23. 10 figures, 15 tables, 35 references. I n a recent paper in Post-Soviet Geography and Economics, this author investigated national and regional urban population trends in Kazakhstan up to 1998 based on official population estimates for 1998 (Rowland, 1999). Although nationality influences on such trends were addressed briefly, that study was especially limited by the general lack of detailed nationality population data for urban and rural areas in the late 1990s. In addition, the population data that were utilized for the late 1990s, both general and nationality, were only estimates rather than actual enumerations. Subsequently, the final results of the 1999 census of Kazakhstan have been published (Agentsvo, 1999a, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c). The first available volumes provide relevant data on oblast-level total, urban, and rural populations in general for both 1989 (the year of the last census of the former Soviet Union or FSU) and 1999 (Agenstvo, 2000a). Additional volumes also provide oblast-level data for the nationalities of Kazakhstan by the total, urban, and rural populations of 1989 and 1999 (Agenstvo, 2000c). In addition, some nationality data are also available in the 1999 census volume on migration (Agenstvo, 2000b). Therefore, the purpose of this paper will be to investigate general national and regional total, urban, and rural population trends in Kazakhstan from 1989 to 1999, a period of considerable political, economic, and social change in the republic. In addition, national and regional total, urban, and rural population trends for the major nationalities will be investigated for this period. Furthermore, regional population distribution and redistribution trends of the total general population and the major nationalities will also be discussed. The impact of regional nationality population patterns on the more general regional population trends will also be assessed at the total, urban, and rural levels. •Professor, Department of Geography, California State University, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407-2397. The author would like to thank Jane Rowland for her excellent typing.

Russia's Secret Cities

An article investigating secret (or closed) towns in Russia and the former USSR focuses on the roughly 40 official closed administrative-territorial formations of Russia, based on newly published information. Special consideration is given to their new status as official urban centers. The geographical patterns of location of the closed towns, their economic functions, population size and dynamics, and current problems and developments all are investigated. Other secret towns in the FSU also are addressed briefly. 2 figures, 2 tables, 139 references. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 131, J60, 018.

Secret Cities of Russia and Kazakhstan in 1998

A geographer specializing in the urban and population geography of the states of the former Soviet Union (FSU) assesses new developments regarding the number, populations, and other characteristics of the secret cities of Russia and other FSU countries, especially Kazakhstan. Particular emphasis is placed on examining new closed administrative territorial formations (CATFs) designated in Russia after 1996 and analyzing new cartographic and population data extending through 1998. Precise locations and more accurate descriptions of economic activities are provided for many of the CATFs described in a previous study (Rowland, 1996b). Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: I31, J60, O18. 1 table, 109 references.

Urban Population Trends in Kazakhstan during the 1990s

An American geographer specializing in population change and urbanization in the countries of the former USSR examines urban population change in Kazakhstan over the period 1989-1998. The focus is on trends in urbanization, urban population growth, and changes in the populations of individual urban centers, with discussion of the latter emphasizing locational patterns and economic functions of the centers. The analysis is based on materials from the 1989 USSR census, official 1995-1998 population estimates, and preliminary results from the 1999 Kazakhstan census, with extensive coverage devoted to the availability of information in a variety of Kazakh statistical sources and other publications. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O18, R12, R23. 3 figures, 4 tables, 69 references.

Urbanization in Ukraine during the 1990s

An American geographer specializing in population change and urbanization in countries of the former USSR analyzes spatial patterns of urban population change in Ukraine from 1989 to 1999, utilizing data from the 1989 USSR census and official 1999 population estimates. General urban population dynamics first are investigated at the national and oblast levels, with a focus on the effects of natural population dynamics and migration. The analysis then shifts to individual urban centers, focusing on rapidly growing, declining, and disappearing and new towns. Linkages are explored between towns of each type and their major economic functions. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O18, R12, R23. 3 figures, 6 tables, 87 references.

East is West and West is East … Population Redistribution in the USSR and its Impact on Society

The purpose of this paper is to measure the dispersal of the Russians into non-Russian areas of the USSR since 1897, and endeavor to explain this population redistribution in terms of general formulations from the migration literature. Because the bulk of the Russian migration was to the urban areas of the non-Russian areas, major emphasis will be placed upon the changing shares they have comprised of the urban population in these areas outside of the RSFSR. We will also consider the prospects of future migration of non-Russians into Russian areas. We have taken a general approach to the study of demographic and ethnic processes in the USSR by testing concepts from the demographic literature in the Soviet context. This is not the usual approach to the study of these processes in the USSR. In the West, there has been a tradition in the social sciences and history that maintains that societal phenomena are not amenable to laws, largely because they are culturally conditioned and historically determined. Others have pointed to the totalitarian nature of Soviet society and its control over population processes. The ethnic literature on the USSR originating in the West has been characterized by considerable emotion, and ethnic processes have often been viewed largely in terms of conditions unique to the USSR, such as characteristically Russian traits or Communist ideology. Little effort has been made to relate ethnic processes in the USSR to the general experience elsewhere in the world, in particular to patterns in modernizing, multinational states, and the interrelationships between ethnic and demographic processes have largely been neglected. Soviet Marxists claim

Regional population growth and redistribution in the U.S.S.R., 1970-1979

Results from the recent 1979 census of the Soviet Union indicate that regional rates of population change between 1970 and 1979 were generally lower than those of the preceding intercensal period of 1959-70 and that regional variations were generally similar to those of 1959-70. The Soviet population is becoming more concentrated again with the most pronounced shift being towards the rapidly growing non-Slavic South especially Central Asia. However the extent of interregional redistribution appears to be lessening. Appreciable urbanization continued to occur in most regions especially in the western areas due to rapid urban growth and deepening rural population decline. (summary in FRE) (EXCERPT)

Recent declining and stagnant towns of the USSR

The characteristics of the more than 300 declining or stagnant Soviet towns with 15,000 or more people since 1959 are investigated based on the censuses of 1959, 1970 and 1979, and official estimates of 1974 and 1978. These towns are disproportionately located in the eastern USSR, especially in the Urals and West Siberia. Most of them are narrowly specialized coal-mining towns, especially numerous among sharply declining towns, and railroad towns. The vast majority were also small, young and on railroads, with an especially large number being on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, in particular, although a relatively high proportion suffer from being on rail-roads. Virtually none of the declining and stagnant towns of the 1959-70 period have experienced rapid growth since 1970; the majority have continued to be either declining or stagnant. Preliminary data on large cities from the 1979 census, as well as 1974 population estimates, tend to suggest that the number of declining and stagnant towns between 1970 and ...

Book Review: Human MigrationHuman Migration. By LewisG.J.New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982. Pp. 200.

econometric analysis is based on a subsample of less than 2,000 observations, although the procedure for selecting the subs ample is not indicated. Because the computer time cost of estimating the equations using information on the 3,000 potential destinations was prohibitive, Mueller limits his empirical analysis to an average of 39 relevant destinations for each county of origin. The biases introduced by ignoring the information on so many origin-destination pairs with no migrants are not assessed. Separate analyses are done by race and sex. Because blacks are not over-sampled, the robustness of the analysis for the sample of about 200 blacks is questionable. The inability to correct for sample selection bias and the absence of data on family characteristics raise serious doubts as to the interpretation of the equations for women.