The Moscow-based public association, The Federation of Migrants of Russia, has ranked Tajikistan the second among the CIS nations in terms of the number of migrants staying in the Russian Federation.
1,745,554 people have reportedly traveled from Tajikistan to Russia over the first nine months of this year. 790,116 of them have traveled to Russia for seasonal work.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan tops the CIS nations in terms of the number of migrants staying in the Russia Federation.
More than 3.4 million people have reportedly traveled from Uzbekistan to Russia over the same nine-month period. 1,573, 791 of them left Uzbekistan for Russia seeking better employment opportunities.
Ukraine, which is ranked the third (347,272 has traveled to Russia in January-September this year for seasonal work), is followed by Kyrgyzstan (247,658 people have left Kyrgyzstan for Russia over the report period seeking better employment opportunities).
The Federation of Migrants of Russia was established in February 2007 on the initiative of leaders of foreign diasporas under support of the Domestic Policy Directorate at the Presidential Administration of Russia. The Federation now unites representatives of diasporas from more than 40 countries, including Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan and many others.
According to data from Russia’s central bank, 1.159 billion U.S. dollars have been sent through money transfer system to Tajikistan from Russia over the first six months of this year, which was 89 million U.S. dollars more than in the same period last year.
487 million USD were remitted in the first quarter and 672 million USD were remitted in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, 2.536 billion U.S. dollars were reportedly sent through money transfer system to Tajikistan from Russia last year, which was 607 million U.S. dollars more than in 2016.
In 2016, 1.929 billion U.S. dollars were sent to Tajikistan from Russia through the money transfer systems, which was 651 million U.S. dollars more than in 2015 (1.278 billion U.S. dollars were sent through money transfer systems to Tajikistan from Russia in 2015).
3.831 billion U.S. dollars were reportedly sent through money transfer systems to Tajikistan from Russia in 2014 and 4.155 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.
Tajikistan is one of the world’s most remittance dependent countries and labor migrants are still a critical component in the economy of Tajikistan. Remittances keep many struggling families at home above the poverty line.
