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Economic Swings, Political Instability and Migration in Kyrgyzstan

European Journal of Population volume 35, pages 285–304 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Individual-level migration responses to economic fluctuations and political instability remain poorly understood. Using nationally representative survey data from Kyrgyzstan, we look at variations in levels and propensities of internal and temporary international migration and relate them to changes in the economic and political environment in that Central Asian nation in the first decade of the century. A multinomial event history model predicting yearly risks of both types of migration detects no clear association of internal migration risks with episodes of heightened political instability but shows a decrease in those risks in response to the strongest economic shock of the observation period. In comparison, international migration risks, while also insensitive to political turmoil, appear to increase at the time of the most pronounced economic downturn. The results also point to instructive patterns in migration propensities by type of area of residence, education, gender, and ethnicity. These findings are interpreted in light of complex intersections of demography with politics, economy, and culture in this transitional Eurasian setting.

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Fig. 1

Source: The World Bank (2016)

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Acknowledgements

The support of the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER), Grant #827-01, for data collection is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Victor Agadjanian

  2. School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, USA

    Evgenia Gorina

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  1. Victor Agadjanian
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Correspondence to Victor Agadjanian.

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All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Agadjanian, V., Gorina, E. Economic Swings, Political Instability and Migration in Kyrgyzstan. Eur J Population 35, 285–304 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-018-9482-4

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Keywords

  • Internal migration
  • Temporary international migration
  • Economic and political instability
  • Central Eurasia
  • Kyrgyzstan

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