Mitochondrial DNA Footprints from Western Eurasia in Modern Mongolia

Mongolia is located in a strategic position at the eastern edge of the Eurasian Steppe. Nomadic populations moved across this wide area for millennia before developing more sedentary communities, extended empires, and complex trading networks, which connected western Eurasia and eastern Asia until the late Medieval period. We provided a fine-grained portrait of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation observed in present-day Mongolians and capable of revealing gene flows and other demographic processes that took place in Inner Asia, as well as in western Eurasia. The analyses of a novel dataset (N = 2,420) of mtDNAs highlighted a clear matrilineal differentiation within the country due to a mixture of haplotypes with eastern Asian (EAs) and western Eurasian (WEu) origins, which were differentially lost and preserved. In a wider genetic context, the prevalent EAs contribution, larger in eastern and central Mongolian regions, revealed continuous connections with neighboring Asian populations until recent times, as attested by the geographically restricted haplotype-sharing likely facilitated by the Genghis Khan’s so-called Pax Mongolica. The genetic history beyond the WEu haplogroups, notably detectable on both sides of Mongolia, was more difficult to explain. For this reason, we moved to the analysis of entire mitogenomes (N = 147). Although it was not completely possible to identify specific lineages that evolved in situ, two major changes in the effective (female) population size were reconstructed. The more recent one, which began during the late Pleistocene glacial period and became steeper in the early Holocene, was probably the outcome of demographic events connected to western Eurasia. The Neolithic growth could be easily explained by the diffusion of dairy pastoralism, as already proposed, while the late glacial increase indicates, for the first time, a genetic connection with western Eurasian refuges, as supported by the unusual high frequency and internal sub-structure in Mongolia of haplogroup H1, a well-known post-glacial marker in Europe. Bronze Age events, without a significant demographic impact, might explain the age of some mtDNA haplogroups. Finally, a diachronic comparison with available ancient mtDNAs made it possible to link six mitochondrial lineages of present-day Mongolians to the timeframe and geographic path of the Silk Route.

Spatial and Temporal Shifts in the Demographic Development of China at the End of the 20th and the Beginning of the 21st Centuries

The article provides an economic and geographical analysis of the demographic processes in China, considering a set of natural and geographic factors, selected to reflect the influence of the state policy of family planning, as well as the policy for the development of separate regions in the period under study. The methodology included the use of geoinformation technologies, classification method and geographical systematization. Based on the identified spatial differences at the level of provinces, radical and previously absent spatial shifts in the demographic processes in China were established for the first time. They consist in the formation of positive and negative dynamics zones, as well as natural increase and natural decline zones. The demographic balance, for the first time calculated for the provinces of China, for 2010 and 2019, made it possible to indicate the dominance of provinces of a progressive type (53.0%) and a zone of provinces of a regressive type (8.8%). The established trend proves not only a differentiation, but also a spatial polarization at the national level and acts as a phenomenon of modern demographic development in China, in the 21st century. The results of the geographical systematization of the demographic space has practical significance as it provides the opportunity to use this methodology at the microgeographic level in other territories and serves as a scientific justification for the development of the directions of China’s regional demographic policy.

Mari of Udmurtia: Factors of Preserving Traditional Culture in Modern Conditions

The factors of preservation and intergenerational transmission of the traditional culture of the local group of Mari living in the territory of Udmurtia in a different ethnic environment is examined in the article. The source basis of the article was the field ethnographic materials collected in 2007 among the Mari of the Karakulinsky region of the Udmurt Republic and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The socio-economic situation of the respondents, the established mechanisms of adaptation to market relations, the preservation of traditional rituals and holidays, material and spiritual culture, the use of the native language, ethno-demographic processes, the activities of the Mari community to support ethnic culture are showed in the work. The author notes that the historically formed mechanism for ensuring the viability of the Mari society includes practices of demographic behavior, ethnic socialization of youth, reproduction of elements of spiritual and religious culture (prayers, family and calendar rituals, songs) and the material world (national costume, elements of architecture, musical instruments, national cuisine), the use of the Mari language. It has been proven that the ritual sphere of the Mari is undergoing transformations, but at the same time it continues to remain an inseparable part of the life of the people. In the course of the work, it was also revealed that the local group of Mari in modern conditions for self-preservation needs to constantly generate ethnic markers based on traditional culture. The key role in this is assigned to the village community, educational institutions and public organizations.

EU Legal Migration Policy: Are There Prospects for Progress or Is It at a Standstill?

The aim of the article is to attempt to identify the state of, and prospects for, the development of the common policy of the European Union regarding legal migration from third countries. The subject of interest is, above all, legal economic migration, which is crucial from the perspective of certain demographic processes taking place in the EU, the changes and needs of the Community’s labour market, and the challenges posed by the digital transformation. The adopted hypothesis assumes that, within the framework of EU migration and asylum policy, policy as regards legal economic migration is still an underdeveloped area and remains in the hands of individual Member States. Initiatives undertaken in this area remain overshadowed by the main focus of the common migration and asylum policy, namely the development of a common asylum system and the prevention of irregular migration. Policy regarding legal economic migration in the near future will mainly be created by Member States and play out on the domestic stage due to the lack of direct motivation for its development at the Community level. In this case, the strength of particular stakeholders’ interests is not balanced out by any direct and easily identifi able benefits to be gained from the adopted common solutions.

Variation in Demography and Life-History Strategies Across the Range of a Declining Mountain Bird Species

Species- and population-specific responses to their environment may depend to a large extent on the spatial variation in life-history traits and in demographic processes of local population dynamics. Yet, those parameters and their variability remain largely unknown for many cold-adapted species, which are exposed to particularly rapid rates of environmental change. Here, we compared the demographic traits and dynamics for an emblematic bird species of European mountain ecosystems, the ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus). Using integrated population models fitted in a Bayesian framework, we estimated the survival probability, productivity and immigration of two populations from the Western European Alps, in France (over 11 years) and Switzerland (over 6 years). Juvenile apparent survival was lower and immigration rate higher in the Swiss compared to the French population, with the temporal variation in population growth rate driven by different demographic processes. Yet, when compared to populations in the northwestern part of the range, in Scotland, these two Alpine populations both showed a much lower productivity and higher adult survival, indicating a slower life-history strategy. Our results suggest that demographic characteristics can substantially vary across the discontinuous range of this passerine species, essentially due to contrasted, possibly locally evolved life-history strategies. This study therefore raises the question of whether flexibility in life-history traits is widespread among boreo-alpine species and if it might provide adaptive potential for coping with current environmental change.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality dynamics in the Far Eastern Federal District

Introduction. New viral respiratory infections in humans make it possible to speak of corona viruses as extremely dangerous human pathogens. They are characterized by a high mortality rate and pose a significant medical and social threat to society due to life-threatening complications of the disease. In this regard, it seems necessary to answer the questions about the dynamics of mortality of the population of the region for different classes of ICD-10 in the prepandemic and pandemic period, including various nosological forms of respiratory diseases. Aim. To assess the degree of influence of the pandemic of the new respiratory coronavirus infection COVID-19 on the mortality rate of the population for various classes of ICD-10, including the class “Diseases of the respiratory system” in the Far Eastern Federal District.Materials and methods. To implement the tasks of the study, a complex of analytical, epidemiological and statistical studies was carried out. Methods used: descriptive statistics, epidemiological analysis and monitoring; mathematical; structural and comparative analysis, methods of time series analysis and content analysis of publications on the problem. Epidemiological and statistical assessment of mortality was carried out on the basis of ICD-10 using the database of the Federal State Statistics Service for 1999-2020 in the territory of the Far Eastern Federal District. For the analysis and processing of statistical information, modern information systems and computer programs (MS Excel-2016) were used. Results. The pandemic of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the level and structure of mortality across the entire spectrum of the main causes of death, and its magnitude (98.8 per 100,000, 2020), as a new cause of death, exceeds the whole the class of causes of death ICD-10 (J00-J99) by 33.3%, changing the pace and direction of demographic processes in Russia. At the same time, the dynamics of mortality due to respiratory diseases is unprecedented, the level of which in the Russian Federation in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic increased by 38.8%, and in the Far Eastern Federal District – by 27.7% against the background of the previous long-term stable a downward trend in mortality rates. Especially high growth rates of mortality rates are observed in pneumonia, the level of which has increased by 3.5 times over the last decade, and among city residents – by 4.2 times (Amur Region). Features of the socio-economic and natural-climatic living conditions of the population of the region determine a significant differentiation of regions in terms of mortality rates, including due to respiratory diseases, the gradients of which among the subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District in the first year of the pandemic period (2020) amounted to 2.5 times with a minimum the level in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (40.9 per 100,000 population) and the maximum – in the Jewish Autonomous Region (101.7 per 100,000 population), which indicates the ambiguous degree of influence of the new viral infection on the dynamics of mortality. At the same time, the variability in mortality rates due to respiratory diseases in the previous period (1999-2019) was even more pronounced, and among the subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District, during this period, higher mortality rates were also demonstrated, which are not even comparable to the current level of the pandemic period. These circumstances require a detailed study and a substantive analysis of the degree of influence of a COVID-19 on the mortality rate of the population using mechanisms and methods for its detection, record and registration. Conclusion. The pandemic of COVID19 had a significant impact on the level and structure of mortality across the entire spectrum of major causes of death, especially in the ICD-10 class “Respiratory diseases”, changing the pace and direction of demographic processes.

Demographic Development of the Bulgarian Lands in Prehistory and Antiquity

Clarifying the demographic state of humankind during all periods of its historical development is an issue that has long been of interest to the scientific community. This paper traces the specifics and trends in the dynamics of the main demographic processes and structures of the population that has inhabited the Bulgarian lands in prehistory and antiquity. Their analysis allows us to establish that, according to the parameters of the studied indicators, the studied area can be related to the Mediterranean area, whose development was ahead of the rest of the world at that time.

Socio-Demographic Processes in the Russian Arctic in Statistical Assessments and Population Surveys

Specificity of modern social processes determines close attention of the global scientific community to socio-demographic processes in the Arctic. The article examines systemic and recent social and de-mographic processes in the Russian Arctic, determined both by the immanent specifics of the Arctic (generating active migration processes, the phenomenon of city-forming enterprises, etc.) and by the all-Russian social reforms (in particular, the pension reform). The methodological peculiarity of the article is to present socio-demographic processes through the analysis of quantitative indicators, as well as through the reflection in the consciousness of the Arctic population (highlighting workers of city-forming enterprises) of modern factors of influence that determine their attitude to residence and work in the Arctic. The analysis of the results of settlement processes in the Arctic regions has been carried out, indicating an unstable stabilization of the population situation in the Nenets, Chukotka and Yamalo-Nenets okrugs, provided by various factors; it revealed the preservation of the negative trend of population decline in the Murmansk Oblast. Statistical analysis and surveys have revealed socio-demographic problems caused by the pension reform, which can aggravate the problem of the outflow of working-age population from the Arctic territories. It was found out that the reaction of city-forming enterprise employees differs from the "all-Arctic" reaction of the population on the grounds confirming the stabilizing role of city-forming enterprises in socio-demographic processes in the Arctic.