Economic and Sociocultural Factors of Migration Attitudes of Residents of the North Caucasus

The article is devoted to migration attitudes in the republics of the North Caucasus. These republics are among the main Russian donor regions of internal migrants. The aim of the work is to identify economic and sociocultural factors that influence the preferences of residents of the region with respect to moving to another federal subject or another country. The research hypotheses are that the migration attitudes of the population in the North Caucasus are associated with negative assessments of the dynamics of the socioeconomic development of the region and with cultural factors: level of trust, traditionalist views, conformism. To test the hypotheses, a representative telephone survey of 1419 residents of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria was conducted. The results of regressions constructed from the obtained data showed that the key factor influencing migration attitudes is socioeconomic indicators that reflect the possibility of self-realization in one’s native region. Respondents who rate the quality of education and institutional environment in the region as worse, when controlling for sociodemographic indicators, are more likely to support leaving the North Caucasus. In addition, the willingness to leave is directly related to the perception of a career in a large company as an optimal life strategy, especially among young people. The indicators of trust (closed social capital among older respondents and open social capital among young respondents) and traditionalist views of respondents were significant and had a negative impact on migration attitudes, while the hypothesis about the influence of conformity and nonconformity of respondents was rejected. The results provide a better understanding of the reasons for the migration of residents of the North Caucasus and allow one to identify the main possible directions for measures to curb the “brain drain” and skilled labor from the region.