More than Half of Russia’s Immigrant Workers in Moscow and St. Petersburg Agglomerations, Rosstat Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 7 – A major reason that the status of migrant workers in Russia has become so politically charged is that, according to a new report by the government’s statistical arm, more than half of Russia’s immigrant population is concentrated in the urban agglomerations of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

            A new Rosstat report says that 26.2 percent of all migrant workers are in Moscow city, 18 percent more are in Moscow Oblast, and 12.7 percent are in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, for a total in those two agglomerations of 56.9 percent (nazaccent.ru/content/44895-rosstat-nazval-regiony-rossii-s-samym-bolshim-kolichestvom-migrantov/).

            Following the Moscow and St. Petersburg agglomerations in this ranking are Sverdlovsk Oblast with 2.4 percent, Tatarstan with 2.2.percent, Amur Oblast with 1.8 percent, Novosibirsk Oblast with 1.6 percent, Primorsky Ray with 1.6 percent, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast with 1.5 percent and Irkutsk Oblast with 1.4 percent.