Interregional Migration In Ukraine: Spacial, Economic And Social Factors

The paper analyses interregional migration flows in Ukraine in 2008–2012 and their determinants. Migration predominantly occurred either between the neighboring regions with similar social and economic development or to/from the capital city of Kyiv. Meanwhile, people rarely moved from poorer and job-scarce regions in the western part of Ukraine to those that were relatively richer in the east. The paper sheds light on the reasons behind this pattern using administrative data on region-to-region migration flows in 2008 and 2012 and applying the modified gravity model. Geographic distance and a common land border between the regions are important determinants of interregional migration in both years and both samples (one includes the capital city of Kyiv, and another excludes it). At the same time, language differences between Ukrainian regions do not have a significant effect on interregional migration when many other factors are taken into account. This finding helps refute a popular stereotype about the crucial importance of the language issue in Ukraine. Ukrainian migrants tend to be more responsive to the levels of income and unemployment in the origin region rather than in destination.