GEOINFORMATION ANALYSIS OF YOUTH MIGRATION BASED ON BIG DATA (A CASE STUDY OF THE STAVROPOL TERRITORY AND THE REPUBLIC OF DAGESTAN)

Abstract

The article analyzes youth migration from the peripheral regions of Southern European Russia. Increasing depopulation trends in the southern Russian territories highlight the problems associated with the migration losses of the most active part of the population. The study is based on official statistics and big data obtained from the VKontakte social network and presented in the form of an interactive atlas Virtual Population of Russia as well as data from Yandex Wordstat search queries. The data are visualized with the use of spatial infographics. The study established the main features of youth migration at the regional and intraregional levels. In general, there prevail processes of outflow of young people to the capital territories (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow region) and more economically developed neighboring regions such as Krasnodar Krai and the Rostov region. In the Stavropol Territory (Stavropol Krai), the declining number of young people is compensated by an influx of foreign students. Most of high school graduates remain to continue their studies in their native regions, no more than 15-20% of applicants choose to study in other cities. Metropolitan universities are predictably most popular, the universities of neighboring large cities are less attractive.Stavropol Krai acts as an attractive territory for young people from certain republics of the North Caucasus, mainly as an educational center. The Republic of Dagestan looks like an unattractive territory for residents of other regions. According to an analysis of search queries, the greatest interest in the republic is shown by residents of those territories where the largest migration communities of immigrants from Dagestan have formed. It confirms the hypothesis of the existence of ‘virtual diasporas’.