Abstract
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequences that followed brought radical political and socio-economic changes to all post-Soviet states. These changes, in turn, had a significant effect on the migration process, which acquired new and unique forms and expressions. With the transition to a market economy, considerable changes have occurred in the livelihoods of the populations concerned. People who had lived under the centrally planned economic system found themselves without sufficient state support and social protection, as they had had before. In the Central Asian State of Kyrgyzstan, this transformation period was accompanied by a severe economic crisis, which was especially dramatic between 1991 and 1995.
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Notes
- 1.
Poverty is measured in accordance with the methodology of the World Bank, and there are two poverty lines: the general poverty line and the extreme poverty line (Mogilevsky and Omorova 2011: 8). According to the explanation given by Mogilevsky and Omorova (2011: 8), “The extreme poverty line reflects the cost of a food basket ensuring consumption of 2100 Kcal per person per day. The general poverty line takes the food poverty line and adds-up the cost of basic non-food expenditures.”
- 2.
The som is the national currency of Kyrgyzstan (KGS), it was introduced on May 10, 1993. According to the official exchange rate on the 10th of May 1993, 4.1 soms were equal to one US dollar or to 200 Russian rubles (NBKR National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic 2009).
- 3.
The definition of household in this study is based on the definition of the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, according to which “A household—is a group of persons (or one person) living together in one living unit, having common housekee** and fully or partially pull their individual incomes for joint expenses on food, other essentials for living or having common budget; they may be both related or unrelated persons”(NSC KR National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic 2011a: 6).
- 4.
According to the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic “A family within a household is determined as those members of a household who to a certain degree are connected by relations those of relatives, adoption or marriage” (NSC KR National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic 2011a: 7).
- 5.
Aiyl okrug (AO)—an administrative-territorial unit in the Kyrgyz Republic, which is represented in the form of a rural settlement or a group of rural settlements (one aiyl okrug may consist of one or more villages) with a local government. The minimum population size of one aiyl okrug cannot be lower than 3000 people (JK KR n.d.: 1-3). Aiyl okrug in this study is translated as a rural municipality.
- 6.
A leskhoz is a State Forest Enterprise. It represents “A form of decentralized forest administration managing an area of forest” (Fisher et al. 2004: v). The history of formation of leskhozes on the territory of Kyrgyzstan dates back to the Soviet years.
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Sagynbekova, L. (2016). Introduction: Migration and Livelihood Strategies. In: The Impact of International Migration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26991-7_1
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