URBAN SETTLEMENT POPULATION: RUSSIAN NORTH AND THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The general dynamics of the Russia population in its northern territories, and the Belarus Republic is presented; the demographic component role in population dynamics and their transformation in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century is shown. Special attention is paid to the effectiveness of migration exchange between the Northern territories and the Russian regions, and the scale of migration losses is shown. It is noted that the Russian North is highly urbanized, surpassing both Russia and the Belarus Republic and most of the countries of the foreign North in this indicator. In terms of the urban locality number, small and medium-sized cities are the leaders, while the majority of the population lives in cities of more than 100 thousand people.