Quality of Life of the Population of Russia: Comparative Analysis of Regions

Abstract

Solving problems related to the standard and quality of life significantly affects the direction and pace of transformation in the country. Ultimately, this affects the economic and, consequently, political stability in society.

The purpose of this article is to compare the quality of life in different regions of Russia and classify them based on quality of life indicators.

The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the comparison of regions is carried out using the quality of life index developed by the author. The empirical basis of the study was the results of processing the values of quality of life indicators in the regions using the SPSS program. In the process of data processing, cluster analysis was applied.

The analysis of the data revealed significant differences between the regions: high quality of life is typical for the regions of the Southern and Central Federal Districts, and low — for the Siberian District. The gap in the quality of life between the capital and the rest of the country’s regions remains one of the most significant. Belonging to rural areas has an ambiguous effect on the quality of life. An increase in the share of rural population in the regions reduces crime and morbidity, but leads to a decrease in retail turnover and migration growth. This is especially noticeable in the republics of the North Caucasus. The negative relationship between economic activity and quality of life is evident in the Northwestern and Ural districts: a high gross regional product per capita is accompanied by an increased incidence rate.

There is a pronounced discrepancy between the high level of production activity in the oil and gas producing regions of Russia and the low social impact on their population, expressed in high morbidity and crime.