Labour migration from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation has grown into a phenomenon unprecedented in its scale. Playing a crucial role in transforming the lives of individuals, family structures, communities and society as a whole, migration has ambiguous implications for the societies of these countries, resulting in both risks and opportunities for those directly related to the trend.
While the positive economic effects of migration are easily measurable in terms of increases to income and spending power, the negative effects such as the effects on the family unit, demographic aspects, and women’s and children’s psycho-emotional and physical health are less immediate and tangible, making them more difficult to demonstrate.
The issue of migration is characterized by dangerous dependencies for Central Asian countries. Workers’ remittances cannot be considered as a stable source of development. This is illustrated by the latest tendencies in the Russian economy and their consequences for neighboring countries. The sharp decline in the value of Russian rouble since the beginning of 2014 hit countries dependent on money transfers from labour migrants in Russia hard, and contributed to the devaluation of local currencies and increases in food prices across the region.