Assessment of the relationship between marriage and migration characteristics of the population of the Belgorod region in dynamics over 130 years
Authors:   Belgorod State National Research University, Sergeeva Kristina N. , Sorokina Inna N. ,   Belgorod State National Research University
Published: October 2024

Background: The importance of studying the dynamics of the population-demographic structure of the population of the south of Central Russia over several generations dictates the need to conduct this study. The aim of the study: Assessment of the relationship between marriage and migration characteristics of the population of the Belgorod region over 130 years. Materials and methods: The object of the study is the Belgorod region (Belgorod, Grayvoronsky, Korochansky, Novooskolsky, Starooskolsky, Valuysky, Krasnogvardeysky and Alekseevsky (formerly Biryuchansky) districts (uezds). The dynamics of population-demographic indicators (migration parameters, isolation by Maleko distance, marriageable age, nationality of spouses) were studied over the past 130 years in the context of 5 time periods. The material was the data of 39,130 marriage records of acts of church and parish books of the Civil Registry Office Archive of the Belgorod Region of the late 19th century and civil status acts of the regional Civil Registry Office archive. In order to assess the relationship between the isolation parameters, Maleko distance and other population-demographic indicators, a correlation analysis (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient) was carried out. Results: Marriage and migration indicators are characterized by pronounced interrelated dynamics. Over the 130-year period, there was an increase in the proportion of heterolocal marriages (by 11 times), the level of local inbreeding (by 2 times), and the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses, taking into account long-distance migrations (by 6.9 times) and without them (by 13.3 times), effective migration pressure (1.5 times), age of marriage for men (from 24.12 to 30.98 years) and women (from 20.5 to 28.71 years), expansion of the national composition. The root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses, taking into account long-distance migrations, were positively correlated with the proportion of men of other nationalities (r=0.90) and women of Ukrainian nationality (r=0.90), and the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses without taking into account long-distance migrations were negative correlations with the proportion of men (r= -0.90) and women (r=0.90) of Russian nationality and positive correlations with the proportion of women of other nationalities (r=0.90). Conclusion: In the Belgorod region, over the past 130 years, an increase in the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses, taking into account long-distance migrations, led to an increase in the proportion of men of other (except Russian and Ukrainian) nationalities and the share of women of Ukrainian nationality, and an increase in the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses without taking into account longdistance migrations led to a decrease in the share of men and women of Russian nationality and an increase in the share of women of other nationalities.