After Eastern Europe's Great Depression: The Top 5 Migrant-Receiving Countries Worldwide: United States, Russian Federation, Germany, Ukraine, France

"Migration has been an important part of the transition process in Europe and Central Asia (ECA), and continues to be relevant as these countries move beyond transition. Labor migration is likely to gain in importance in view of the aging of populations in Europe and some parts of the former Soviet Union. Migration in the region is unique and significant: ECA accounts for one-third of all developing country emigration and Russia is the second largest immigration country worldwide. Migrants’ remittances, as a portion of gross domestic product, are also large by world standards in many countries of the region. Economic motivations currently drive migration flows in ECA. This was not the case in the initial transition period, which unlocked large flows reflecting the return of populations to ethnic or cultural homelands, the creation of new borders, political conflict, and the unwinding of restrictions placed on movement by the Soviet system. Nor will it be the case in about a decade, when demographics will begin to dominate motivations for migration. However, for now market opportunities and the reintegration of ECA countries into the world economy spur labor migration. Incentives for permanent and large quantities of undocumented migration may exist because of the structure of many of the immigration policies governing migration from ECA to Western Europe and the migration-receiving countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)." ...

The World Bank Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union , Washington, D.C., January 2007.
















Arsen Savadov, "Donbas Chocolate," (1998), at the newly opened Pinchuk Art Center, [Central] Kyiv, Ukraine, Future European Union. [Alternatively, Kiev, Ukraine; in Viktor Pinchuk's preferred spelling. Viktor Pinchuk is Ukraine's second-richest oligarch, and a major backer of Kyiv, Ukraine's new "Arsenal" large cultural center/ museum and concert hall project.] Rinat Akhmetov is the richest Ukrainian business oligarch; his fortune is estimated at between $1.7 billion and $11.8 billion. Akhmetov is of Tatar descent.



Image credit: (c) Arsen Savadov, 1998. All rights reserved. Via The Ukrainian Observer [The Willard Group]. With thanks.