Arctic Yearbook 2014
85
prime child-bearing ages. Depending on the nature of economic activity there might be a significant
imbalance in the gender ratio among the incomers, which is certainly the case in many Arctic regions
and communities. Demographically, this tends to keep the population of a region quite young, in
addition to other economic influences such as being a boost to economic growth. On the other
hand, regions experiencing population declines from migration are losing large numbers of people in
the young adult ages, exacerbating population decline and serving to dampen economic dynamism.
As will be illustrated, many Arctic regions and settlements are on the extremes of population change
from high rates of in-migration or out-migration.
Figure 1 shows population change in the Arctic disaggregated into natural increase and net migration
for selected Arctic regions since 2000.1 Nunavut has grown the most of any Arctic region because its
young age structure and high fertility have led to high natural increase, which is slightly offset by net
out-migration. Alaska, the Khanty-Mansiy okrug, and Iceland have similar patterns of high natural
increase and moderate in-migration as all three regions have rather prosperous economies. (It should
be noted that Alaska is a large and demographically heterogeneous region with a majority of the
population residing in a few large sub-Arctic urban centers. Generally, the North Slope, Nome, and
Northwest Arctic boroughs are considered Arctic for analytical purposes. These, along with other
rural boroughs generally have high natural increase, combined with net outmigration. See Hamilton,
Lammers, Glidden & Saito, 2014.) In Yukon, population growth was due equally to natural increase
and net in-migration. These were the only three Arctic regions which grew faster than the global
rate, which was all obviously due to natural increase.
Figure 1: Population change from natural increase and net migration
in selected Arctic regions, 2000 to present
Nunavut
Alaska
Khanty-Mansiy Okrug
Iceland
Yukon
WORLD
Yamal-Nenets Okrug
Faroe Islands
Nenets Okrug
NWT
Greenland
Yakutia
Taymyr Okrug
Evenki Okrug
Karelia
Arkhangel'sk
Kamchatka
Komi
Murmansk
Chukotka Okrug
Magadan
Koryak Okrug
Percent change from
natural increase
Percent change from net
migration
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
Sources: National and regional statistical offices. Data are in order by total population change.
Migration in the Arctic