Changing Human Populations in Post-Soviet Kamchatka: An Integrated Study of Shifts in Fertility and Net Population

Abstract

We expect population changes to be closely tied to resource abundance or scarcity. Here, I demonstrate a clear relationship between the widespread socio-economic crisis of the post-Soviet period and declining population patterns in central Kamchatka. These broad patterns, however, vary among populations, reflecting particular interlinked socio-economic, ecological, and historical conditions. More dramatic decline is observed in areas where the socio-economic crisis has coincided with a local natural resource crisis. Analyzing population shifts in the context of local circumstances, this paper corroborates the link between resource conditions and changes at the family level.