Kazakhstan to change migration policy
"I would like to highlight two factors that advocate for the expansion of the migration policy framework. One of them is that our country is now becoming a large transit and migration hub. The second is the expected internal impacts this process has. For the past five years alone, nearly 300,000 foreigners have arrived in our country for work, and 204,000 people are our brothers who returned to the homeland. The pace of the migration activity in the country is increasing. It has doubled within the reporting period," the minister said.
The labor minister told about the demographic imbalance in Kazakhstan.
She said that by 2050, under the current demographic trends, the population of the southern regions will increase by 5.2 million, and the population density in the above regions will be four times higher than the figures related to the northern parts of the country.
"38% of the population live in the southern regions, except for Almaty City, while the percentage they yield to the gross regional product is only 17%. In the northern regions, 29% of the population produces 25% of the gross regional product," she explained.
The head of the ministry added that there are imbalances in the labor productivity as well.
"The southern regions with the highest population density have the lowest productivity, whereas the northern regions with low density have a higher productivity level. In the next five years, the drift of labor will be slowing down. These are the consequences of the demographic situation that came about in the early 1990s and the resulting decrease in labor supplies," Tamara Duissenova said.
According to her, considering the abovementioned challenges, the overarching aims of the concept are to improve the demographic-economic balance of the country, build an open market of professional employees based on temporary and long-term migration, and ensure the national security against the migration-related threats.