Russia faces largest brain drain in two decades amid Ukraine war

Since February 2022, the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, nearly 700,000 residents have left Russia, reported the independent Russian portal Moscow Times. According to the service, 100,000 Russians found refuge in Armenia, 80,000 in Kazakhstan, and 74,000 in Georgia. This wave of emigration is referred to as a "brain drain."

Approximately 80,000 Russian residents went to Israel, 48,000 to the USA, and 36,000 to Germany. The Netherlands received 16,000 Russians, Spain 16,000, Latvia 18,000, and Serbia 30,000. Currently, there are 28,000 more Russians with residence permits in Turkey than before the invasion of Ukraine, although—as noted by the portal—renewing this document there has now become much more challenging.

Moscow Times, which presented these reports based on statistics from host countries, emphasized that it could not access all the data. Thailand and Indonesia did not provide their statistics, Cyprus stated that it does not keep records of arrivals from Russia, and Portugal only published data for the previous year. Additionally, the collected information does not show how large the group obtained the right to reside in a given place but later decided to leave and possibly return to their homeland.

Although relatively few people have left Russia (about 0.5% of the population), the current wave of emigration is the largest in 20 years, noted the portal The Bell, quoting demographer Salavat Abylkalikov. In his opinion, this emigration "has the nature of a brain drain," because "people with very high levels of social capital, many young specialists" have left.

Russia is already experiencing labor market shortages, and these are expected to increase. The Ministry of Labor expects that by 2030, the country will lack 2.4 million workers, the Moscow Times reported.

Source: PAP/WP