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Changing Human Populations in Post-Soviet Kamchatka: An Integrated Study of Shifts in Fertility and Net Population

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Abstract

We expect population changes to be closely tied to resource abundance or scarcity. Here, I demonstrate a clear relationship between the widespread socio-economic crisis of the post-Soviet period and declining population patterns in central Kamchatka. These broad patterns, however, vary among populations, reflecting particular interlinked socio-economic, ecological, and historical conditions. More dramatic decline is observed in areas where the socio-economic crisis has coincided with a local natural resource crisis. Analyzing population shifts in the context of local circumstances, this paper corroborates the link between resource conditions and changes at the family level.

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Hitztaler, S. Changing Human Populations in Post-Soviet Kamchatka: An Integrated Study of Shifts in Fertility and Net Population. Population and Environment 25, 335–354 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:POEN.0000036484.29688.d4

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