95% of labor migrants from Tajikistan go to Russia

According to the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment of the Population of Tajikistan, about 95% of the labor migrants from the republic go to Russia.

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About 95% of labor migrants from Tajikistan go to Russia for work. This was reported in an interview with the TASS agency by the Deputy Minister of Labor, Migration and Employment of the Population of Tajikistan Shakhnosa Nodiri.

“Approximately 95% of all labor migrants from Tajikistan leave for Russia to engage in labor activities. The most popular destinations are Irkutsk, Chita, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Moscow and Leningrad regions,” the Deputy Minister stated.

According to the Migration Service of Tajikistan, in the first 10 months of this year, 331,353 people left the country for work in Russia. However, according to the Russian side, this figure is significantly higher. The reason, Nodiri explained, is that many migrants hold Russian citizenship, and when leaving the republic, they register as Russian citizens and do not appear in Tajik statistics on labor migration. “In Russia, those arriving from Tajikistan, even with a Russian passport, are included in the list of migrants,” she added.

Some migrants go to Kazakhstan, other CIS countries, or further abroad to Turkey and the UAE. The authorities of Tajikistan note that money transfers from labor migrants are the main source of income for their families and also contribute to the activation of cash flow in the republic.

According to the National Bank of Tajikistan, in 2019, the volume of money transfers to the country amounted to over $2.7 billion, an increase of 6% compared to 2018. It only decreased last year, which was related to the restrictions on entry in various countries during the pandemic.