Demographic features of the COVID-19 spreading in the Arctic region

Abstract

The article discusses the features of the reproduction of the population in the Arctic region in the post-Soviet period and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A retrospective analysis of the population dynamics is carried out and the factors of the population change in the post-Soviet period are identified. There is noted a significant impact of the economic development and social well-being level of the territory on the change in demographic indicators that determine the positive vector and scales of both natural and, in some years, mechanical population growth. The factors affecting the spread of COVID-19 in the Arctic subject of the Russian Federation — Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and the level of mortality and morbidity from coronavirus, their impact on the population reproduction over two years of the pandemic has been identified, based on the characteristics of the socio-economic and demographic development, the geographical location of the region and its municipalities. The role of the coronavirus pandemic as the main source of excess mortality in 2020-2021, and the dependence of the morbidity and mortality of the population on the age structure, the characteristics of the spread of coronavirus infection, the impact of the population level and geographic location are examined. There are identified intra-regional differences and local areas having their own specifics, both in socio-economic and demographic terms, and features of the pandemic spread. The hypothesis about the role of older ages of 60+ as the main risk group in determining the rate of spread and the number of deaths due to the coronavirus has been empirically confirmed. Analysis of the statistical data on the dynamics of morbidity and mortality in the period under review made it possible to identify the cyclicity of the waves of the first and second indicators in time from the lowest level to the peak, the duration of which was eight months.