The lives of Tuva Turks depended upon the stockbreeding and hunting until the century XX just like the other Turkish tribes. The Russian immigration that started in the end of the century XIX caused a great change in their lives. The Russians established the Town of Turan located in the north of the country in the year of 1884 and the Capital Kizil in the year of 1914. We observe that the first nomadic groups were interested in the leather trade and the wooden works. It can be seen the nomadic Tuva Turks started to settle down with dense populations in the period of Stalin. Tuvas that lived in tents made of white carpets and led a nomadic life with their herds of sheep, cattle, goats, and horses settled down in their wooden houses with one room in the years of 1940-50s that were constructed upon the order of Stalin. The sentence about this change that I have heard from various Tuva Turks about stating that "There would not be any theft in our carpet tents without any doors, but thefts occur in our wooden houses with two doors and three or four locks after the locks are broken" points out the summary of this change in this century. Pursuant to the settlement of villages, the stockbreeding was oriented to the state farms called as Kolkhozes and Sovkhozes. On the other hand, the corporations for wood and mine were developed and the little villages that had been founded turned into towns. Airports were constructed in these towns to which the little aeroplanes can get on the ground and the places to which the people could not go through the main roads was reached through airways. The ores of coal, cobalt, iron, asbestos, and gold were processed despite the unproductiveness. The lack of the railways is still a hindrance in front of the mining enterprise. Tuva Turks have faced great difficulties when the Soviets declined.
For example, Ak-dovurak (Aktoprak) was a town in the West of Tuva that consisted of a population of 12 thousands. As means for subsistence, the population of the town with the majority of Russians worked in the factory of asbestos that was the biggest mine enterprise in Tuva. The asbestos produced there was exported primarily to China and the other foreign countries. When the Soviets collapsed, the maintenance of the factory could not be carried out and the goods produced could not be exported since it was understood that the asbestos bears the cancerous characteristics. The workers who could not sell the goods that they produced could not get their salaries. In the winter of 1993, the water system of all houses got frozen in the town that was heated with central heating system (the water heating system broke down due to the technological insufficiencies) and the people were in thirst for months. There was no life in the place out of water. Finally, most of the Russian population residing in this region immigrated to the internal regions of Russia.
As a matter of fact, nearly all the corporations suffered from the same consequences. When their ideology that they followed for years got lost, the people were astonished about what to do. Furthermore, the self-employment and free trade did not have any place in the culture of Tuva people and neither the communist system had taught them to these people before. Those who opened small-scale commercial centres were mostly the Russians. These developments increased the alcoholism level to an incredible degree that was the most significant element brought forward with the communist system. The stockbreeding that was done by Tuva people retrograded due to the insufficiency of the machines and the lack of the collection of the necessary herbs.
"Nowadays, 90% of the budget of Republic of Tuva was covered by the central administration. The goods that are dedicated to the Republic is 3 or 3.5 fold of the goods exported." All these incidents are the indicators of the lack of proper processing or the insufficient utilisation of the vast lands, forests, mineral strata, and streams of Tuva and the pastures suitable for stockbreeding. And all these incapabilities do not suffice to nourish the Tuva population. It could be possible to get rid of the difficulty of daily life through the efforts of Tuva people. As a consequence, the government of Tuva continues their efforts and works towards the development of free enterprises, the increase in the quality of education and the establishment of closer contacts with the foreign countries.