War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine
BACKGROUND: Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many citizens left Russia due to increasing government repression, the fear of mobilization, or to escape the economic downturn. As yet, reliable statistical data on those who left are not available. Hence, much remains unknown about the charact...
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Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Demographic Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/50/8 |
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| author | Athina Anastasiadou Artem Volgin Douglas R. Leasure |
| author_facet | Athina Anastasiadou Artem Volgin Douglas R. Leasure |
| author_sort | Athina Anastasiadou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BACKGROUND: Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many citizens left Russia due to increasing government repression, the fear of mobilization, or to escape the economic downturn. As yet, reliable statistical data on those who left are not available. Hence, much remains unknown about the characteristics and scope of this population. In the digital age, people prepare their journeys by searching online and these digital traces provide clues about their intentions and the scale of mobility events. OBJECTIVE: Here we aim to leverage this resource of search engine data to study geographic, temporal, and demographic trends in the international mobility intentions of Russian residents. METHODS: Our analysis combines search queries provided by the search engine Yandex with city-level data on sociodemographic and geographic characteristics. We examine two mobility events, the first after the start of the invasion and the second after mobilization started. We explore the relationships between cities’ sociodemographic characteristics and the number of mobility-related searches during those events using a set of generalized linear models. CONCLUSIONS: We find that regional indicators of wage levels were less important in the second wave and the proximity of a country of interest increased fourfold in importance. These and other results support dominant narratives in the media about a potential Russian brain drain, particularly during the first wave, and about the scale of the outflow. CONTRIBUTION: This work combines spatial data on sociodemographic characteristics with search engine data to understand the mobility patterns of Russian nationals from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Our findings confirm the potential of Yandex search engine data as a novel data source for informing migration and mobility research. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b15a754a9b0646a8807bbc58fa0a72cd |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1435-9871 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Demographic Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-b15a754a9b0646a8807bbc58fa0a72cd2025-08-20T02:57:04ZengMax Planck Institute for Demographic ResearchDemographic Research1435-98712024-02-0150820522010.4054/DemRes.2024.50.86425War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of UkraineAthina Anastasiadou0Artem Volgin1Douglas R. Leasure2Max-Planck-Institut für Demografische ForschungUniversity of ManchesterUniversity of OxfordBACKGROUND: Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many citizens left Russia due to increasing government repression, the fear of mobilization, or to escape the economic downturn. As yet, reliable statistical data on those who left are not available. Hence, much remains unknown about the characteristics and scope of this population. In the digital age, people prepare their journeys by searching online and these digital traces provide clues about their intentions and the scale of mobility events. OBJECTIVE: Here we aim to leverage this resource of search engine data to study geographic, temporal, and demographic trends in the international mobility intentions of Russian residents. METHODS: Our analysis combines search queries provided by the search engine Yandex with city-level data on sociodemographic and geographic characteristics. We examine two mobility events, the first after the start of the invasion and the second after mobilization started. We explore the relationships between cities’ sociodemographic characteristics and the number of mobility-related searches during those events using a set of generalized linear models. CONCLUSIONS: We find that regional indicators of wage levels were less important in the second wave and the proximity of a country of interest increased fourfold in importance. These and other results support dominant narratives in the media about a potential Russian brain drain, particularly during the first wave, and about the scale of the outflow. CONTRIBUTION: This work combines spatial data on sociodemographic characteristics with search engine data to understand the mobility patterns of Russian nationals from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Our findings confirm the potential of Yandex search engine data as a novel data source for informing migration and mobility research. https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/50/8Brain drainmigrationRussiasearch trendsUkraineYandex |
| spellingShingle | Athina Anastasiadou Artem Volgin Douglas R. Leasure War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine Demographic Research Brain drain migration Russia search trends Ukraine Yandex |
| title | War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine |
| title_full | War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine |
| title_fullStr | War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine |
| title_full_unstemmed | War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine |
| title_short | War and mobility: Using Yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine |
| title_sort | war and mobility using yandex web searches to characterize intentions to leave russia after its invasion of ukraine |
| topic | Brain drain migration Russia search trends Ukraine Yandex |
| url | https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/50/8 |
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