A Decade from Now, Central Asian Migrant Workers Now in Russia will Return to Their Homelands to Retire, UNICEF Study Says

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 28 – Central Asians have been leaving their countries to work abroad because their populations are growing more rapidly than their economies, according to a new UNICEF study, Generation – 2050 in Central Asia. But a decade from now, those now working in the Russian Federation will be returning home to retire.

            Their return will thus place a new burden on the countries of the region, as governments scramble to come up with adequate pensions for this group of citizens. This burden will be all the greater because birthrates will be slowing and so the number of workers relative to retirees will decline (bugin.info/detail/budushchee-v-rukakh-molodezhi/ru).

            The UNICEF study also says that the number of Central Asians will rise from 84 million now to 112 million in 2050, twice the number there in 2000, but that population will be very different from the one there now. It will be older and more urbanized as well as more interested in industries that produce goods and services and not just in the export of raw materials.