Statistical data collection on migration in Russia

Abstract

Migration data collection within Russia has significantly improved in recent years. A set of laws and administrative decrees launched in 2002-2010 have updated the system of migrant registration and have improved communication channels between data collecting administrative bodies (Ministry of Interior, Federal Migration Service, Border Service, etc.) and the Federal Statistical Service of the Russian Federation (Rosstat). In 2009, the elaboration of the Integrated System of Migration Data (Gosudarstvennaya Informatsionnaya Systema Migratsionnogo Ucheta - GISMU) was finalized. Its core is the Centralized databank on foreign nationals (Centralny bank dannykh ucheta inostrannykh grajdan - CBDUIG) that carries both personal and statistical information. Collection of migration data focuses mainly on migrants' flows, while data on migrant stocks are an object for population censuses only. Russian statistical sources usually separate data on migration exchange with the post-Soviet countries (CIS & Baltic countries and Georgia) (novoye zarubejye) from data on all other countries (staroye zarubejye). This division is fundamental because of differences in migration flows between Russia and the two groups of countries in terms of nature, scale, structure, as well as the migration regulations applied.