Russian border regions: human capital Dmitry Zimin 2013

Human capital: main characteristics Size (the number of economically active people); Age structure of the population; Their education and skills; Their health; The cost of their labour; Quality of social capital: labour ethics, loyalty to the employer, etc.

Border regions of Northwest Russia

Why? Strongly negative natural growth of the population: the death rate is twice the rate of births; Massive out-migration from the northern regions (Murmansk and Russian Karelia)

Incoming migrants Partially alleviate the demographic problem in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region BUT: Often they are not duly qualified to occupy vacant industrial jobs; Some migrants become involved in criminal activities + inter-ethnic tensions (e.g. in Kondopoga in 2006).

Paradox: the total population shrank, but the number of employees grew. Because: This was a period of economic growth; A large age cohort (born in the 1980s) has entered the market; Arrival of labour-age migrants, many of whom have not been registered.

Problems with social capital Lack of trust within Russian society; Civil apathy; Organized crime; Widespread corruption; Inefficient public administration; Questionable stability of the Federation.

Conclusions: Serious demographic challenges; Personal incomes remain quite low, and there is large inequality of incomes; Educational level is quite high, but this sphere needs to better respond to demands of the market; Incoming migrants provide a partial solution, which has some negative aspects; Problems with social capital.