The Influence of Economic Indicators of the Country on Youth International Migration: a Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Human capital represented by young people is becoming an important potential for the country's development. To reduce young people's migration flows, it is necessary to know what influences their decision to leave the country. The purpose of this work is to study economic factors of youth migration globally through the literature review and to conduct a comparative analysis of economic indicators between the member-states of the Eurasian Economic Community. The methodology is based on the most similar and the most diverse systems, which are widely used in comparative studies. Accordingly, a small number of cases were selected based on similar models used. An analysis of similarities and identified differences between countries was carried out. The study included three stages: literature review, indicators selection and comparative analysis. Comparative analysis was based on four indicators, such as public spending on R&D, the total number of emigrants, the share of remittances in GDP and the unemployment rate. The data was collected from open sources. According to the literature review, investment in R&D was found to have a strong influence on the decision of emigrants, especially young people, to migrate. The analysis showed strong similarities between Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus regarding unemployment and educational indicators. The results for Russia and Kazakhstan confirmed the assumption of utility theory, according to which young people usually leave for the sake of better educational programs. The results of this study can be used to improve and adjust the youth and migration state policy, which may reduce the migration of young people abroad.