About 420 thousand people have left Russia since the beginning of the year, which is almost twice as many as compared to the same period last year, RBC reports with reference to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service.

Most people left Russia for Ukraine (79.6 thousand), Tajikistan (58.4 thousand), Armenia (49 thousand), Kyrgyzstan (43.6 thousand), Kazakhstan (40.7 thousand) and Uzbekistan (38.6 thousand).

«The number of people who left the Russian Federation increased by 216.5 thousand people, or 2.1 times, both due to emigrants to the CIS member states: by 189.0 thousand people, or 2.1 times, and due to those who left for non-CIS countries: by 27.6 thousand people, or 2.2 times», - the message says.

According to Rosstat, since the beginning of the year, the population in Russia has decreased by 480.6 thousand people, or 0.33%.